‘Citizen! Master! There you are at last. I have been waiting at the arch for you, as you commanded me. Minimus gave up and rode ahead. He said you told him to.’ His small face brightened into a hopeful grin. ‘I managed to arrange the funeral with the guild. They are coming tomorrow to anoint the corpse, and get it ready for the pyre. They’ll provide the mourners and musicians too, and a priest of Diana to perform the rites.’
I thought about the poor creature we’d cremated earlier that day — already it seemed like several lives ago — and of poor Morella in the paupers’ pit. Aulus would have a better funeral than that.
I sighed. I couldn’t help it.
Niveus looked anxiously at me. ‘Did I do well?’ he said.
Chapter Twenty-eight
It seemed to take a long time, even then, before the soldier came and told us that the gig was ready and awaiting us. But once we were all three crammed into it — there was seating room for me beside the officer, but poor little Niveus had to crouch on the floor — we bowled along the road at a surprising pace. A military gig is built for speed, of course, and the driver was skilful, even in the dark — the torches which were mounted on either side of him gave off a cheerful glow and helped to keep him warm, but were not much help in illuminating the road.
Moreover, we had the advantage of military rank, and such other travellers as we passed moved smartly from our way. So, though we were jolted far too much for speech, we found ourselves turning off on to the lane which led to Marcus’s country house in not much longer than we might have done by day.
I would have liked to ask the gig to stop and let me go into my roundhouse and rinse my hands and face — Gwellia would be proud of my instincts there, I thought — but I feared to annoy my patron by any more delay, and I’d resigned myself to driving directly to the feast. I was just wondering what Marcus would have to say to me, and whether they’d begun without me several hours ago, when a figure with a lantern rushed out of my gate into the road.
‘M-m-m-master? Is that you?’ It could only be Kurso, stammering like that.
‘What is it, Kurso?’ The gig had stopped by now.
‘The m-mistress s-says that you’re to c-c-come inside.’ The lantern was bobbing in agitation now. ‘There’s s-s-someone here that you were l-l-looking for.’
I glanced at the commander. ‘You’d better go,’ he said. ‘It may be the girl in question. I’ll wait here for you. Don’t be very long. I don’t have to remind you that you’re already late.’
And Gwellia knew that as well as anyone, I thought, as I climbed down from the gig. I was getting skilled at managing on carts. I went through the enclosure and through the roundhouse door, and was startled by the domestic sight that met my eyes. There was a man — a stranger — sitting on my stool, beside my fire, drinking from my bowl and laughing with my wife. I felt a surge of helpless jealousy, even as I noticed that Junio was there.
He looked up and saw me, and jumped to his feet. He had been crouching by the stranger, near the hearth. He came across and seized me warmly by the arm. ‘Father, at last. We’ve found that man for you!’
‘Man?’ I was bewildered.
‘The farmer in the cart. You went to the villa gate to keep a watch for him, and said that you’d be looking for him on the way to town. Well — we saw him passing, or rather Mother did, and she persuaded him to come and wait for you in here. It wasn’t easy — he wanted to get home — but you know what Mother’s like. She charmed him into it.’
I did know what Gwellia was like, indeed, and I was ashamed of my reaction when I first walked in. I might have known my family would find some way to help. I nodded and went over to stand beside the fire. My wife, who had been stirring something in a pot, looked up and saw me and greeted me at once.
‘Husband! This is the farmer from the uplands that you were looking for. He knows Morella — he was just telling us.’ She gave him an understanding smile. ‘I have explained that her parents have been to see us here, and that you were trying to find news of her.’
‘That’s right.’ His mouth was full of something, but he gestured with his hands. He was just as Niveus had painted him, thin and ancient and not altogether clean. He spoke reasonable Latin, with a heavy burr. ‘Knew her well, I did — poor little lass. Your wife assures me that you only want to help, and you are worried for her safety, so I’ll tell you what I know. I don’t want to get her into trouble with her father, though — if he lays hands on her he’ll beat her black and blue.’
I closed my eyes, thinking of a wretched naked body in the common pit. ‘He won’t hurt her any further. I can promise that.’
‘Well then.’ He took another bite of something in his hand. ‘What can I tell you? Last time I saw her she was looking happier — better than I’ve ever seen her in my life. Turned out nicely, too — new clothes and everything. Little bit skimpy round the top, perhaps, but she looked quite good in it.’
‘And she had a bundle with her, of her other clothes?’
He spluttered crumbs at me. ‘That she didn’t, mister. Nothing of the kind. Just a pair of sandals hanging round her neck — tied up by their laces, though they looked too big for her.’ He gave a barking laugh. ‘Had her hands full, just holding on to that dratted animal — couldn’t even let him go to wave goodbye to me. She wasn’t holding bundles! I’m quite sure of that.’
‘She had the dog with her?’ Suddenly I wasn’t making any sense of this.
‘Dog? Course she didn’t. I’m talking about the horse. Lovely animal. Must have cost a fortune, if I am any judge, and good-tempered too, judging by the way she was clinging to the mane. And she didn’t really have to; the chap was holding her.’
‘The chap?’ I remembered the descriptions that I’d heard of Hirsius. ‘Big fellow, was he, with sandy-coloured hair? Wore an olive-coloured tunic and a cloak to match?’
He nodded sagely. ‘That’s the very one. Didn’t look too pleased when she called out to me — I suppose he was afraid he’d have her father after him. But if he makes her happy, who am I to grudge? Time that poor creature had a bit of happiness.’
‘What did she say, exactly? Can you recall her words?’
‘Said to tell her parents that she had run away. Gone to join the entertainment troupe and work with animals. I said I saw she had got some pretty clothes, and she said that she was going to have some others by and by, and another pair of sandals that would be a better fit. “The other fellow’s got them in his bag,” she said, “but he couldn’t stop to sort them out just now. He’s got to ride the hard way as it is, along the lane, to catch up with the carts before they reach the town. He’s got all the costumes and the wigs with him. You better not go down that way along the lane,” she said, “because he’s still there changing his costume for the act and he hasn’t even got his tunic on. I would have walked right into him and seen his you know what, if my friend hadn’t stopped me in time! And wouldn’t that have been embarrassing.” And then she giggled — you know what she was like. Or, pardon, citizen, probably you don’t.’
I thought about that dreadful mutilated corpse. That, surely, was what she had been prevented from looking at? ‘And what did her companion have to say to that?’
‘He got quite cross with her and told her not to talk. Said they had to hurry, because the cart was up ahead and they had a lot of things to do before they caught it up. That made her giggle — I wondered what he meant.’ He cocked an eye at me. ‘She was a bit given to that sort of thing, if you know what I mean. Didn’t have much affection from her father, I suppose, and wanted to find it any way she could. I didn’t mind her, though she wasn’t very bright — though I wouldn’t have liked my sons to want to marry her.’
‘And you are sure she wasn’t carrying a bundle at the time?’
‘Positive! The fellow had a sack behind him on the horse, an enormous one all tied up with a string — but there was nothing in it. I asked where they were heading, but he didn’t answer me, just turned and galloped off. Morella was clinging on for dear life all the time, and laughing like an idiot — that’s the last I saw of her.’