Envoy Extraordinary

"That seems reasonable. I am, not in Rome."

"It was all I had."

"Mamillius. See that Phanocles does not lose by his visit. Mamillius!"

"Caesar."

Shadows were creeping down from the roof of the loggia and welling out of the corners. The nightingale still sang from the tall cypress. The Emperor's eyes went like the soldier's to the veiled woman then, unlike his, to Mamillius.

"And your sister?"

"Euphrosyne, Caesar, a free woman and a virgin."

The Emperor allowed his palm to turn and his finger to crook until there lay on his lap the image of a beckoning hand. Drawn by that irresistible compulsion Euphrosyne moved noiselessly out of her corner and stood before him. The folds of her dress rearranged themselves, the veil fluttered over her mouth.

The Emperor glanced at Mamillius and said to himself:

"There is nothing new under the sun."

He turned to Euphrosyne.

"Lady, let us see your face."

Phanocles took a sudden step forward and found himself checked by the model.

He danced to save it from injury.

"Caesar-"

"You must accustom yourselves to our Western manners."

He glanced down at the sandalled toes, the moulded knee, up at the unbelievable hands clutched so tightly into the fabric of her dress. He nodded gently and put out the hand with the amethyst on it in assurance.

"We intend no discourtesy, lady. Modesty is the proper ornament of virginity. But let us see your eyes at least so that we may know to whom we speak."

Her head turned in the veil to her brother, but he was standing helplessly, hands clasped and mouth open. At last one hand drew down over her breast a little way and the veil came too so that it revealed the upper part of her face. She looked at the Emperor and then her head sank as though her whole body were a poppy stem and hardly strong enough for the weight.

The Emperor looked back at her eyes, smiling and frowning. He said nothing, but the unspoken news of his need had gone forth. The curtains parted and three women paced solemnly on to the loggia. Each seemed to carry a double handful of light in cupped hands so that faces were lit and the fingers a rose-coloured transparency. The Emperor, still watching Euphrosyne, began to arrange these nameless lamps with movements of a finger. One he beckoned to the right of her and forward, one behind her so that immediately the light ran and glittered in her hair. The third he moved in, close, dose, bade the light rise till it was lifted by her face on the left side, so near that its warmth fluttered a curl by her car.

The Emperor turned to Mamillius, who said nothing. There was a shocked look on his face as though he had been jerked out of a deep sleep. With a sudden motion Euphrosyne covered her face again and it was as though a fourth light had been extinguished. The soldier's sword was shaking.

The Emperor leaned back in his chair and spoke to Phanocles.

"You bring the tenth wonder of the world with you.

The sweat was running down Phanocles' face. He looked at the model in bewildered relief.

"But I have not explained, Caesar-"

The Emperor waved his hand.

"Calm yourself. No harm is intended to you or your sister. Mamillius, they are our guests."

Mamillius let out his breath and looked at the Emperor. His head began to turn from side to side restlessly as though he were trying to break loose from invisible strings. Yet the Emperor's announcement had set another pattern in motion. The women ranged themselves to light the curtained doorway and the grave house dame came through it, willing to give of her plenteous store. She inclined her head to the Emperor, to Mamillius, to Euphrosyne, took her by the wrist and led her away. The curtains dropped together and the loggia was dark at last, the brightest lights were where the fishing boats danced by their nets. Mamillius came close to Phanocles and spoke to him in a voice that remembered how recently it had broken.

"What is her voice like? How does she speak?"

"She speaks very seldom, lord. I cannot remember the quality of her voice."

"Men have built temples for objects of less beauty."

"She is my sister!"

The Emperor stirred in his chair.

"If you are so poor, Phanocles, has it never occurred to you to make your fortune by a brilliant connection?"

Phanocles peered wildly round the loggia as though he were trapped.

"What woman would you have me marry, Caesar?"

Into the incredulous silence that followed his speech the nightingale spilled a rill of song. She had evoked the evening star that sparkled now in a patch of dense blue between the blacknesses of the junipers. Mamillius spoke in his rebroken voice.

"Has she an ambition, Phanocles?"

The Emperor laughed a little.

"A beautiful woman is her own ambition."

"She is all the reasons in the world for poetry."

"Corinthian is your style, Mamillius. However continue. "

"She is of epic simplicity."

"Your eternities of boredom will be sufficient for all twentyfour books."

"Don't laugh at me."

"I am not laughing. You have made me very happy. Phanocles how did you preserve this phoenix?''