‘You want us to stop at the doorway to the upstairs, citizen?’ the nearer bearer said.
I nodded, still too breathless to reply. The wine shop occupied the lower floor, but there was another entrance way a little further on, which gave on to the stairs. It was, as usual, swarming with people of every age and rank — most of whom were craning to look as we appeared.
‘Take no notice,’ I said to Silvia, helping her to get down from the chair. ‘They are just the people who live in flats upstairs.’
She nodded. ‘From the top floors, mostly, from the look of it,’ she murmured nervously.
She was right of course. There are always several storeys of apartments in a place like this, and the size and status of these establishments decreases dramatically the further up you climb. So elegant apartments, such as Marcus’s, might take up the whole first floor, but the attics are a warren of squalid little rooms crammed to bursting with the free-born poor. There is never any means of heating, in these top-most floors — even braziers are forbidden, lest they cause a fire — but people very often improvize, dragging illicit firewood up flights and flights of stairs, and there are smells of cooking cabbage and telltale wisps of smoke. All this would mean an instant punishment, of course, if the aediles — the market policemen — caught you in the act, so there are often idlers on the landings, or people playing dice, watching all comers with suspicious eyes.
Today was no exception and Silvia drew back a little, obviously alarmed.
I took her by the arm. ‘They are simply curious,’ I told her, hoping I was right. ‘There’s no need to be frightened.’
Junio stepped forwards. ‘Why don’t you wait down here with lady Silvia?’ he said. ‘The slaves and I can go upstairs and tell them we are here — and bring back the money to pay the litter men. That will save you being stared at while they open up the door and they will be waiting for you when you do arrive.’
‘An excellent arrangement,’ I agreed. ‘Tell them to send someone to attend the lady up, as well. I think she would be grateful for a female slave.’ Junio nodded and he started up the stairs, with my slave boys ready to lead the way for him. But they were not required to force a path, in fact — people here were doubtless used to Marcus’s visitors and they stood back quite respectfully to let the toga past.
Silvia watched them and her fingers tightened slightly on my sleeve. ‘Forgive me, citizen. I see that you were right. There isn’t any danger. I always fear the worst. Ulpius used to say it was my greatest fault.’
I still held her elbow and I turned her round until I was looking full into her eyes. ‘And yet, forgive me, it does not apply — it seems — in matters that affect your guardian,’ I said.
She coloured prettily. ‘I’m not sure I understand you, citizen.’
‘Oh, I think you do. Genialis sets off on his own, rides through the bitterest of snow, does not arrive at his destination as arranged — and yet you seem convinced that he is safe. Indeed, you chided Lucius for suggesting otherwise. Yet I think you should prepare yourself for the possibility that your guardian has met an accident.’
She shook her head with vigour. The pretty cheeks were bright vermilion now. ‘Oh, Genialis will turn up safe and sound — people of his type always do.’ She laughed and drew me a little further from the bottom of the stairs, as though she feared she might be overheard. ‘Citizen, may I be completely frank with you? You say I do not fear the worst where he’s concerned. I do! I fear that he is safe. I dare not allow myself to hope that he is dead — though perhaps you find that hard to understand?’
I shook my head. ‘Not as difficult as you might suppose. I imagine that Genialis is not an easy man.’
‘Easy! He is well-nigh impossible! Pompous, vain and selfish — and a spendthrift gambler too. A man more different from my Ulpius it would be hard to find.’
‘Yet they were brothers?’
She made a deprecating gesture with her hand. ‘Half-blood, that is all. They shared a father, certainly, but Ulpius was the offspring of a different wife and was always favoured — even as a child. I think that Genialis hated him for that.’
‘But did his family duty, anyway, by applying to be your guardian?’ I said.
She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Not because he cared for me a jot — he much prefers his pretty Syrian slave, though Adonisius hates the sight of him — and certainly not out of any family duty towards poor Ulpius. He wanted the use of my inheritance, that’s all — and I, poor fool, had no one else to speak for me. Lucius might have done it; he was always good to me, but he is not even a proper citizen — what hope would he have had? Genialis had the stronger case in law …’ She broke off as Junio came clattering down the stairs, accompanied by my servants and — bringing up the rear — a plump and moon-faced female slave of Julia’s.
I faintly knew the woman; she had been a nurse to Marcus’s young son when he was small. I gazed at her, attempting to recall her name.
Junio supplied it for me. ‘This is Nutricia, Father. I believe you’ve met before. I’ll leave her with you while I go and pay the chair.’ And he suited the action to the words.
The slave woman waddled over — it was the only word for it — and bobbed a clumsy curtsy. ‘Why, citizen Libertus! I know your face, of course. I’ve seen you at the villa. Don’t you remember me?’
‘Nutricia! Of course!’ The name derives from ‘wet-nurse’ and I should have known. ‘I did not know that you were still …’ I tailed off.
‘Oh, they keep me out of kindness — or the lady Julia does. I help the household here with general chores and attend on my mistress — and that dear child of course — on the rare occasions when they come to town. But now I am to have another charge, I hear.’ She turned to Silvia, her fat face wreathed in smiles. ‘Though I see you are in mourning, my pretty little lamb.’
Silvia said nothing; she just glanced at me so I answered for her. ‘She is a widow, though she is betrothed again.’ I saw the look of scandal on the nurse’s face and added quickly, ‘Her husband’s brother is her guardian and he should be here, but he has somehow been delayed by snow, so Marcus has taken temporary potestas of her.’
Silvia smiled prettily at this, looking so attractive that she positively glowed and — since the nurse was clearly fond of Julia — I wondered if my explanation had simply made things worse. Nutricia, however, seemed entirely satisfied. ‘How like the master to be kind like that,’ she said. ‘Well now, my lambkin, you come along with me. Nutricia will see that you’re looked after properly. I’ve got the kitchen slaves to warm some water through, and I’ve got some rose petals that I’ve been keeping by, so you can have a nice warm scented wash for your poor feet. Citizen Junio tells me you’ve been travelling for miles!’ She went to lead my charge away from me.
‘I will accompany the lady to the apartment door,’ I said, rather nettled at having to insist, but I was glad enough when Silvia was safely in the flat, out of range of prying eyes and under the protection of the household slaves, so I could hasten back to Junio and the boys.
I found them waiting for me in the street. We hastened to the workshop, my son and I took off our togas while the two slaves doused the fire, and then — wrapped in the warmest cloaks and clothing we could find — set off at last towards our houses and our wives.
SEVEN
The journey home was every bit as demanding as I’d feared. The forest track — steep and treacherous at the best of times — was made even more challenging than usual by slush and standing snow: indeed it was still slippery with frozen ice in parts, so progress was difficult and slow, in spite of the impromptu walking staves we picked up on the way. Moreover, the sight of recent wolf tracks in several places near the path was an inducement to hasten where we could. We met no marauding animals, I am glad to say, and my young companions managed well enough, but I took several tumbles at steep points on the path, which left me bruised and shaken — not to mention soaked in icy water to the waist.