“Please, let’s not talk of him.” Her expression sobered. “Did I speak too frankly yesterday, Longinus? Did I reveal too much to him ... about us, I mean? Is that why you didn’t come last night? You were annoyed with me?”

“You really spoke your feelings, didn’t you? But I wasn’t annoyed with you,” he said. “In fact, I’m glad you spoke up. And I suspect he was not surprised at what you told him, only that you would say it, and with such fury.” She had sat down on the side of her bed. He seated himself beside her and bent over to unfasten his sandals. Then he straightened and faced her. “Claudia, I was too depressed last night to be good company.” He shook his head slowly. “I’ve never been in lower spirits.”

“Because of the Galilean?”

“Yes. Because of what I had done. It felt like a crushing load on my back. I couldn’t get out from under it.” He stood up, and laid his tunic across a chair. “After I left you and Pilate, I went back out to the crosses and helped get him down, taking care to see that in pulling the nails out we didn’t tear or further bruise the flesh”—he paused in his narration, and his low laugh was hollow, mirthless—“after I had seen the nails driven through the living flesh and had plunged my lance into his side. Then we put him in the rich Jew’s tomb; they had bound the body the way the Jews prepare their dead for burial, although they didn’t have time to anoint it with aromatic spices as they customarily do....”

“They are going to do that tomorrow,” Claudia interrupted him. “Tullia has gone out to Bethany to go with Mary of Magdala and Chuza’s wife Joanna and some other followers of the Galilean early in the morning to the tomb to finish the burial rites.” She paused. “But I interrupted your story. What did you do when you had finished out there?”

“I came back to Antonia and sat for a long time on the balcony looking out over the Temple courts. Then I went to bed and tried to get some sleep, but I couldn’t, no matter how I tried. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that man ... the death march out to the hill, nailing him down, lifting him to the upright....” He cupped his palm across his eyes. “By the gods, Claudia, it was terrible, frightening. And his crying out to his god to forgive us.” His hand dropped listlessly to his side. “Well, I finally gave up and walked out along the balcony again, and then I went to see Cornelius. He was troubled, too. He hadn’t gone to bed. We sat and talked, mostly about that man, until daylight.”

“Did you come to any conclusion ... about him, I mean?”

“Well, no, I suppose not, except that it was a monstrous crime to crucify such a man, though Cornelius still held to the idea that the Galilean probably was a god of some sort, that he had supernatural powers, even the ability to heal people—he insisted that he had healed his little Lucian—maybe to raise dead people to life. Cornelius even said he thought it was possible that the Galilean might come to life himself, as some of his followers say he will, and walk out of that tomb.” He was silent for a moment. “If he does,” he added after awhile, “he’ll have to move a tremendous stone from the mouth of the tomb ... and from the inside.” He sat down again beside her. “And under the noses of the guards, too.”

“The guards?”

“Yes. At the insistence of the High Priest, Pilate has set a guard at the tomb to prevent the Galilean’s followers from stealing the body and claiming that he actually did come to life. The Procurator put Cornelius in charge, and I went out there with him; in fact, I’ve just come from there. Cornelius is going to stay until daylight.”

“Then Pilate is still trying to appease the High Priest, even after all I said to him yesterday?”

“Evidently. The Procurator isn’t likely to change his ways.”

“Maybe I was rash yesterday in losing my temper and speaking with such boldness, but I’ve come to have such contempt for him, to loathe him so. Oh, Longinus”—she clutched his arm in both hands and clung to him—“how can I stay with him longer in this dreary land? Please take me with you to Rome. Hasn’t the time come...?”

“That’s why I’m here, Claudia.” Then his serious expression softened, and his eyes teased. “And because it’s my last night.”

“Must you be leaving tomorrow?”

“Yes. I’m going with Cornelius as far as Tiberias. From there I’ll go across to PtolemaÏs and get a ship for Rome. Cornelius is providing me an escort to the coast. I’ll have to get the first ship leaving that port for the capital. But I had to see you before I left. Claudia”—in the subdued light of the bedchamber the gentle flame of the wall lamp was mirrored in his eyes as he looked deeply into hers—“it may be that a way of escape is about to open for us. By all the gods, it’s strange, and distressing, too, but the death of the Galilean may actually save us.”

“You mean that Pilate in condemning the Galilean may have condemned himself?”

“I believe he has ... in one way or another. And I think he has given you a means of freeing yourself.” He paused. “You’re sure no one can hear us?”

She nodded. But he went to the door anyway, listened with his ear to the panel, and tried the bolt.

“This is dangerous, Claudia,” he said, as he sat down again. “You mustn’t breathe a word of it to anybody, not even Tullia. It could get us both killed.” He lowered his voice. “That message I had yesterday. It brought startling news. I purposely showed it to Pilate, but of course he had no idea what it was saying. But I did. That ‘matter of utmost concern’ was the Prefect’s way of notifying me that now he’s finally ready to proceed with his scheme and wants me in Rome when he makes his move.”

“But this new scheme? What...?”

“It’s not a new one, Claudia. He gave me a broad hint concerning his plans the last time I was home; he said that when I got a message so worded it would mean he was ready to proceed with the final step.” He leaned close to her. “Claudia, Sejanus is plotting to have the Emperor assassinated; he is bidding for the throne.”

“But surely”—her face had paled—“he doesn’t mean for you to ...”

“Oh, no, not that. Some palace servant out at Capri will probably attend to that. But he wants me in Rome when it’s done so that I can help rally his supporters at the crucial moment and make him Emperor.”