‘But how did they know that Genialis had been staying at the house? Doesn’t that suggest he’s been in touch with them?’
Marcus shook his head. ‘He sent word with the official post, it seems, on New Year’s Day itself, when he first decided not to travel all the way. Silvia confirms it, so there can be no doubt. It seems the earlier messenger came from Dorn as well.’
‘How do you learn all this?’
‘Bernadus sent the Syrian back this morning at first light with the news — together with Lucius’s servant who had stayed there overnight, after he had been asking at the inns with no result. The two slaves rode straight to Lucius of course — they could not know where Silvia was lodged — and Lucius came to me. Managed to just catch us before we left.’
‘We? So the lady Silvia accompanied you here?’ Like an idiot I looked around as if I expected to find her in the room.
Marcus looked disdainful. ‘She could not travel in my gig, of course — that would not be proper for a lady of her class. Anyway, Bernadus had kindly sent back word that I could use his horse — until such time as he’s back in town himself — so I rode it home and left the gig to follow later on.’
I nodded. Exactly as I’d thought.
‘I had intended to obtain a hiring cart for her since a gig is not suitable for a lady of her rank, but Lucius suggested an alternative,’ my patron went on with a smile. ‘He has a proper carriage which he’ll make available and later in the day she will come here in that. But first she is waiting for her luggage to arrive. Bernadus realized she would now be wanting it — since of course she was taking everything to Dorn — and offered, in his message, to send it back to her. Lucius sent the Syrian off again post-haste to accept the arrangement and escort the cart. As soon as it arrives it will accompany her here.’ He popped another fig into his mouth. ‘The main roads are much clearer now; they should arrive tonight.’
‘You intend to lodge her in the villa here?’ I exclaimed, wondering again what Julia was going to make of that. ‘But surely you are shortly setting off for Rome?’
He waited till he’d swallowed before he answered, stickily, ‘When the slave market is open in a day or so I will take her back to town and find some staff for her and she can continue to live in her old home, though officially under my protection legally. I suppose I’ll have to find some guards for her while I’m away. I have provided her a maid-servant already, as you know.’
‘That will be costly!’ I took another sip of wine. I meant it too. A full complement of slaves, and replacements for whatever household items Genialis sold — from what I saw he’d nearly stripped the place.
He arched a brow at me. ‘There should be no problem. With Genialis dead — as I think that now we must assume he is — Ulpius’s estate will come direct to her. As guardian I can use that to pay for she what needs — though I would like to leave enough to earn some income too. She will need a personal stipendium as well — some sort of small allowance for herself — though I would continue to have oversight, of course.’
‘Unless she gets remarried,’ I reminded him.
He grinned cheerfully and took another fig. ‘Which I rather think she might. Lucius will make an offer for her, I suspect.’
‘And surely as her guardian you would not object to that?’
He made a magisterial face. ‘I would have to think about it very hard. I have my duties as a guardian and there are grounds for refusing permission for the match. For instance, if she marries him she’ll lose her status as a citizen.’
‘Of course!’ I spoke as if I’d thought of it myself, though in fact this aspect of affairs had not occurred to me. Any married woman takes her husband’s rank. ‘In that case she may not welcome such a match herself.’
Marcus shot a sideways look at me. ‘Oh, I suspect she would. She’s clearly fond of him and I’m not sure that rank means very much to her. Her father was merely a freeborn man, like Lucius, himself and — from what she says — not even an especially wealthy one. Everything she has she owes to Ulpius, including her status as a citizen. I’m not sure that she values it as you and I would do.’
‘So she would be content to marry Lucius and become a simple freewoman again?’
My patron put his goblet down, and cracked his finger joints — a sign that he was in the happiest of moods. ‘It needn’t come to that. If I became his partner …?’
‘You would still sell her portion of the business to him?’
‘I’ll make him a loan so he can purchase it.’
‘Though the money would come from Silvia’s estate?’ The circular nature of the intended deal began to dawn on me.
That smug smile again. ‘I would use an intermediary, of course. He need not know who lent it until afterwards. Don’t look so horrified. If I simply give permission for the match, her inheritance will come direct to him and she stands to lose her status and her wealth as well, if there’s the kind of storm at sea that you were warning of. This way he gets what he is asking for, I get a chance to make some money out of it and he and Silvia can be citizens as well.’
I sipped at the last remnants of my wine. ‘You think you can arrange it?’
‘I imagine so.’ He gave me an arch look. ‘If it could be argued that — with all his trade — he’d contributed enough to the welfare of the state, then I could put in a word with our new Emperor, recommending Lucius for a grant of citizenship.’
‘For a small consideration?’ I felt I was beginning to get the hang of this. ‘A continued portion of the trading profits, perhaps.’
He frowned at me reproachfully. ‘Don’t look so disapproving, my old friend. It would be a good solution, don’t you think? That way everyone would gain. I can’t see a single flaw in it.’
‘Provided Genialis is genuinely dead,’ I pointed out. ‘Falling from his horse does not necessarily mean that he was killed. Even Gwellia pointed out that he may be simply hurt, and sheltering somewhere till he’s well enough to move.’
Marcus selected the last few sugared fruits and looked sourly at me. ‘Libertus, must you always take a contrary view? Yesterday, as I recall, you were urging Silvia to accept that if her husband was missing — in this weather — he was likely to be dead. And that was before Adonisius found the horse.’
‘Excellence,’ I murmured, feeling slightly piqued. ‘You ask me for advice. The best that I can give you is to wait a day or two and make no assumptions till we learn the truth. If you behave as though the man is dead — by spending Silvia’s portion or selling parts of it — you trespass on his legal potestas. So if he happens to turn up again, he would have a legal case to claim injuria, for loss of status, theft and the denial of his rights.’
Marcus scowled. ‘I cannot leave the woman without a guardian. It is likely that he’s perished in the snow.’
‘But you can’t be sure until they find a corpse. Surely the prudent thing is to instigate a search? Then it’s clear that you’ve done everything you can, and any judge would recognize that fact,’ I said, deliberately hinting that this might come to court. From what I’d seen of Genialis, there’d be no gratitude for Marcus’s attempts to ‘rescue’ Silvia.
‘A search?’ Marcus held up the final fig and popped it in his mouth. ‘Fortunately, Lucius had the same idea. The matter is in hand. He and Bernadus have already sent a party of their slaves to scour the woods and I have despatched several of my own from the town apartment — they should be there by now, searching the whole area between the villa and the town.’
‘Nobody looking on the road to Dorn at all?’ I saw his expression and added hastily, ‘I ask because we can’t be certain, even now, that Genialis came this way at all. As the lady Silvia pointed out — if that was the case, why didn’t the messenger from Glevum pass him on the road?’
‘And if he went the other way — to Dorn — why ever should the horse, when riderless, pass the villa where it lived and walk on down the road?’ Marcus countered, with acerbity.