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150 DARKNESS AND DAWN
day in this house when all the noblest matrons of Rome
are with you to sanction your presence, and you shall outshine
them all. But there are guests coming to-night whom
I should not care for Poppaea to greet, though I have asked
them as companions of Nero. Surely you would not demean
yourself by speaking to a Vatiuius or a Paris, to say nothing
of a Tigellinus or a Sagitta.'
'
I need not see or speak to any of the others, Otho,'
said
'
Poppaea but
; surely I have a right to ask that when
the slave sees the gilded letica with its purple awnings
I may for one moment advance across the hall, and tell
Nero that Poppaea Sabina greets the friend of her lord, and
thanks him for honouring their poor house with his august
presence.'
'
Well, Poppaea,' said Otho, ' if it must be so it must.
You know that I can never resist your lightest petition,
and I would rather give up the banquet altogether than see
tears in those soft eyes, and that expression of displeasure
against Otho on your lips.'
So, when Nero arrived, Poppaea met him, and, brief as
was the interview, she had thrown into it all the sorcery of a
potent enchantress. A sweet and subtle odour seemed to
wrap her round in its seductive atmosphere, and every word
and look and gesture, while it was meant to seem exquisitely
simple, had been profoundly studied with a view to its effect.
Poppaea was well aware that Nero was accustomed to effrontery,
and that Acte had won his heart by her maidenly reserve.
Nothing, therefore, could have been more sweetly modest than
Poppaea's greeting. Only for one moment had she unveiled
her whole face and let the light of her violet eyes flow through
his soul. There was one observer who fully understood the
pantomime. It was Paris, who read the real motives of Poppaea
and was lost in admiration at so superb a specimen of
acting. His knowledge of physiognomy, his insight into
human nature, his mastery of his art, enabled him to see
the truth which Nero did not even suspect, that this lovely
lady with the infantile features was ' a fury with a Grace's
mask.'
She saw that her glance had produced the whole effect
which she had intended. Nero was amazed, and for the moment
confused. He had never experienced such witchery as