Further than this the senator's observation did not
carry him, for the close, almost mephitic atmosphere of the place
already began to affect him unfavourably. He felt a suffocating
sensation in his throat and a dizziness in his head. The restorative
influence of his recent bath declined rapidly. The fumes of the wine he
had drunk in the night, far from having been, as he imagined,
permanently dispersed, again mounted to his head. He was obliged to
lean against the stone table to preserved his equilibrium as he faintly
desired the Pagan to shorten their sojourn in his miserable retreat.
Without even noticing the request, Ulpius hurriedly proceeded to erase
the drawings on the buttresses and the inscriptions on the table. Then
collecting the fragments of statues and the pieces of linen, he
deposited them in a hiding-place in the corner of the apartment. This
done, he returned to the stone against which Vetranio supported himself,
and for a few minutes silently regarded the senator with a firm,
earnest, and penetrating gaze.
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