But I shall do all I can. The
gems you took were but a trifle and you were welcome to them. In fact, I
never missed them. In any case they were but an installment on what you
deserved and now deserve. It is not yet too late for me to save you. I can
cause your speedy release and probably your complete rehabilitation. They
have been keeping me here in the hope of extorting from me information
which would enable them to ferret out my confederates in the towns and
cities. They have wheedled and threatened, but have hesitated to torture
me, since no one doubts that I was, by origin, a freeman. I have held out
and should have held out, even if tortured. Now I'll make a voluntary
confession, enough to delight the magistrates. Chiefly I'll emphasize your
complete innocence and my brother's malignity. I'll have to save some
others along with you and I shall. But, to a certainty, I'll save you!
"It seems to me there is a poplar-pole somewhere in this dungeon."
He felt about and presently I heard a dull thumping, on the trap-door, in
a sort of rhythm, like the foot-beating of spectators at Oscan dances.
After no long interval the trapdoor was lifted; Crispinillus called up:
"Tell them I have changed my mind. I'll confess.
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