He was detailed to report on your local
feud. Whether he knew of you before that, whether his queer spite against
you originated then or earlier, I don't know. He took dislikes and likes
without any traceable reasons."
Similarly, when I told of seeing Marcus Crispinillus peer through the
postern door of Nemestronia's water-garden he interjected some remarks.
He uttered admiring ejaculations as I told of wrestling with the leopard
on the terrace at Nemestronia's and of how Agathemer and I crawled through
the drain at Villa Andivia, also at my tale of my branding and scourging
and of the loyalty of Chryseros Philargyrus.
But, when I came to our discovery of the hut in the mountains, he stirred
uneasily in the rustling straw and muttered in his throat. As I described
our winter at the hut he became more and more excited, uttering
ejaculations, half suppressed at first, as if not to interrupt my
narrative, later louder and louder.
When I told of our killing the five ruffians he sprang up.
"Say no more!" he cried. "Come to my arms. Let me embrace you! Let me
clasp you close! You are he! You are my benefactor! The man who tells that
story in such detail cannot have heard it from another, he must have lived
it! To think that you are Felix the Horse-Master and also Andivius Hedulio
and that you saved my Nona! My gratitude cannot be expressed, any more
than your service to me can be requited.
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