"You seem to me a highly intelligent woman," I said.
"Master?" she asked.
"Surely you were aware of the couching laws?"
"Yes, Master," she said.
"You expected to violate them with impunity?"
"I gather so, Master," she said.
"You did not expect to be betrayed, or discovered?"
"I do not think so, Master," she said.
"And yet," I said, "as a highly intelligent woman, you must have realized that some danger would be involved."
"Perhaps," she said. "The matter is unclear to me now."
"That in itself is interesting," I said.
"Master?" she asked.
"It seems you were very careless," I said.
"Perhaps, Master," she said.
"That seems to me very interesting," I said.
"Master?" she asked.
"What was your first emotion," I asked, "when the net descended upon you?"
"It does not matter," she said.
"Surely you realized it was a slave net?"
"A capture net of some sort," she said.
"What was that first emotion?" I asked.
"It does not matter!" she said. "It was a momentary reaction, a sudden, fleeting, wild thing!"
"What was it?" I asked.
She looked up at me, agonized, miserable. She was quite lovely.
"Keep your knees widely separated," I reminded her.
Again the whitish dust, a hort deep, was pushed to the sides, to bank against the outside of her knees.
"Consider your reply carefully," I said. "You have already incurred discipline."
"Elation!" she said.
"Of course," I said.
"Then I was terrified!" she said. "I realized what had happened! I was caught! I had been discovered! I was trapped! I was within the toils of a net! I burned with shame, with embarrassment. It seemed I was afire! I choked with misery! I was naked! Men were moving about! They could see me! What of my reputation? I struggled! I was afraid! I was angry! I was outraged! I was miserable! I had been betrayed! I was helpless! I fought the net! I fought the net! But I could not free myself!"
"And what later," I asked, "in the edifice of the magistrates?"
"I was in a cell," she said, "naked, lying on some straw, chained by the neck to a wall."
"And your emotions?" I asked.
She looked up at me.
"My thigh was sore," she said. "I had been branded."
"Of course," I said.
"There were two collars on my neck," she said, "a light, temporary collar, identifying me as a slave provisionally in the custody of magistrates, and, over it, a retaining collar, that by means of which I was fastened to the wall."
"Go on," I said.
"I felt the collars on my neck," she said. "The temporary collar was flat and close-fitting. It was the first collar I had ever worn. It was put on me after my branding. The retaining collar, too, was close fitting, scarcely less so, it seemed, than the collar it covered. It was heavy and thick. The chain to it was heavy, too, with thick links. It was about four feet long, it was fastened to a stout ring in the wall, about a foot above the floor."
"And your emotions?" I asked.
"I lay there," she said, "my fingers on the chain, near the retaining collar." I looked at her.
"Serenity, contentment," she said. "Happiness. The fighting was over."
"When did you receive the collar of Appanius?" I asked.
"The next day," she said, "affixed on me by one of his agents. Later I was called for at the edifice of the magistrates by one of his slaves, driving a tharlarion wagon. He tied my hands behind my back and put a rope on my neck, by means of which he tied me to the back of the wagon. i was not to ride in the wagon. I was a female slave. I would follow it afoot, on my rope. It was thus, naked, that I was conducted to the house of my master. Twice in the streets I was struck by free women. My introduction to slavery had begun."
"Were you angry with the slave who bound you?" I asked.
"No," she said. "Rather I was afraid of him. He was a male. Too, I realized I could be given to him for his pleasure, if my master wished."
"I gather that," I said, "in spite of the doubtless large numbers of beautiful slaves in the house of Appanius, you were to be trained as a house slave."
"Yes, Master," she said.
"Do not doubt, then, your desirability and beauty," I said.
"I tried to do well," she said, "to learn self-effacement and deference, to serve ably, silently and unobtrusively. I think I did well. I hardly ever felt the stroke of the house master's switch."
"And were you silked?" I asked.
"As befits slaves," she said, "clad for the pleasures of masters."
"How came you to the fields?" I asked.
"One night I, and two others, were serving not in the main hall, as we commonly did, but at a late supper, a small, private supper, laid in the very quarters of my master, Appanius, and Milo, his slave, whom you have heard of, who had returned from a performance in the great theater."
"Appanius and Milo must be on intimate terms," I said.
"Yes," she said. "The master treats him almost as though he might be a free man. They discuss matters of business and the theater. Even in the great hall, at the common suppers, he has Milo above the salt and at his right hand."
"You must have served Milo at the common suppers then?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"And as only another deferential slave," I said.
"Of course," she said.
"You must hate him," I said.
"Why?" she asked.
"It was through his collusion," I said, "that you came into the collar."
"Then I should be grateful to him," she said, "for I have known for years that it is in the collar that I belong."
"I see," I said.
"Besides," she said, "he, too, is a slave. He must act on behalf of Appanius. He, too, even though he is the great Milo, must obey. Do you think he wishes to be thrown to sleen?"
"I would not think so," I said.
"I am far from bearing him ill will," she said.
"I gathered that," I said.
"Indeed," she said, "it was my hope that I might be thrown him, that I might at least feel his touch!"
"I see," I said.
"He is beautiful!" she said.
"Not a bad looking fellow," I granted her.
"And there I was," she said, "kneeling half naked in slave silk, collared, in bangles, waiting to serve, so close to him I could reach out and touch him, almost alone with him."
"Continue," I said.
"And then they began to discuss a free woman. I do not even remember her name, objectively, casually, as though she might be an animal, a mere slave, like myself. I could hardly believe my ears. And then I realized that at one time I, too, had doubtless been so discussed."
"You were angry?" I asked.
"Not then," she said. "I think I was rather more scandalized that the woman should be discussed in that fashion. After all, she was not, as I, an animal, a slave."
"But perhaps she was an animal, a slave," I said, "only one not yet in her collar, as once you were not yet in your collar."
"That is undoubtedly true!" she laughed.
"But you became angry later?" I said.
"Yes!" she said.
"At whom?" I asked.
"At both of them!" she said.
"Because of the trickery they would practice," I asked, "because of the toils of the slave net?"
"No," she said. "It is rather that I did not want Milo to have anything to do with the other woman, whoever she was! There were already enough women so captured in the house! What if she were more beautiful than I? What if he liked her, when he saw her naked in the net?"
"You were jealous of a possible rival," I said.
"Yes!" she said.
"But there have apparently been a great many," I said.
"I was distraught," she said. "I was furious! My heart was beating wildly. Then I felt futile, helpless and miserable. I could do nothing! Such as I are completely at the mercy of our masters! I was only a slave! And then there were tears in my eyes, and Milo was so beautiful! I wanted him to see me, to notice me. I did not wish to be just another slave in the background, unrecognized, so simply taken for granted, serving but almost unnoticed, present but scarcely seen. I reached out, with tears in my eyes, and put my fingers on his arm."