I hastened to backtrack. ‘You don’t know that, Excellence. It was only a suggestion on my part. It is more likely that he is here on a political errand.’ Strange — only a moment or two before, that had seemed a much more threatening alternative.
Marcus shook his head. ‘No, it would make sense. The Emperor would speak for Felix, and if she is ugly her father would be desperate to dispose of her. My mother would think it a wonderful match — all that property and wealth. . Dear Jupiter! The girl must be twenty-one by now, so she must be a perfect fright, not to have found a husband at that age. And yet if the Emperor has suggested it, I can hardly refuse-’ He broke off, interrupted by the return of the messenger he had sent to Zetso. ‘Well?’
The boy was breathless with hurry. ‘Most excellent master, I delivered your message to the driver, and he awaits you at the carriage. He merely urges that you fulfil your business at the curia as soon as possible. Lucius Tigidius Perennis Felix proposes a feast tonight and hopes that you will attend.’ The slave was choosing his words with care, and I guessed that the message had been delivered in much more forceful terms.
Marcus cocked an eyebrow at me.
I nodded, although in fact this was not quite as I understood it. Surely Felix was guest of honour rather than host at this banquet? But this was no time for fine distinctions. ‘I am at your service, Excellence.’
Marcus sighed and waved the slave away. ‘Very well, go and prepare my possessions for departure.’ The slave hurried off, and Marcus poured himself another glass of wine — unheard of indignity — before he turned to me. ‘Why ever didn’t I marry Delicta weeks ago? If I arrived back in Glevum a married man, it would have been too late. Felix would not even have a grievance.’
There was no answer to that. The widow was beautiful, intelligent, wealthy and eager to have him. In his position I would have wed her long since. I said nothing.
Suddenly he brightened. ‘Great Mercury, Libertus, I wonder if I could marry her now?’
I stared at him. ‘Now? This afternoon?’
‘Why not?’
‘You can hardly claim usus marriage,’ I said. ‘You have been sleeping with her under her roof rather than your own. And certainly not for an uninterrupted year.’ That was rather a presumptuous remark and I regretted it instantly, but Marcus was too preoccupied to care.
‘I cannot propose a manus marriage either — I cannot notionally “buy” her from myself. But I could do it another way — a formal statement in front of a magistrate and a family augurer, witnessed by seven citizens. After all, I am going to the curia. Delicta’s auspex will be there and I happen to know a friendly magistrate. It is a little irregular, but he owes me a favour or two. I’m sure he would oblige us.’ He grinned. ‘What do you say, old friend?’
‘The lady will consent?’
‘Of course she will. She has been telling her brothers for weeks that we intend to marry. And she will see the sense in this. Of course, she needs her guardian’s formal permission — but since I am her guardian,’ he grinned, ‘I will send for her at once.’ He made towards the door.
I intervened. ‘Allow me, Excellence. I know the house and I will take her the message myself. That way no servant knows of it. If Zetso asks questions while you are gone, all he will learn is that you were going to the curia, which he knows anyway. I suggest that we go openly. I will have the lady send all her maidservants on errands to the front of the house, then put on a hooded cloak and follow us discreetly on foot out of the back gate. Zetso will pay little attention to her movements. Let us hope your magistrate is amenable and the auspex finds the auguries favourable.’
‘I found for him last month in a tax case,’ Marcus said wryly. ‘That should help to tip the entrails in my favour. And only yesterday I put the magistrate in the way of buying the house in this law case we are about to attend. The accused man was pleased to part with it at a very low price. I imagine the magistrate will be amenable.’
‘Then all you need is seven citizens to witness your declaration.’
He glanced at my Roman toga, more than usually frowsty after our headlong journey to Corinium. ‘Six,’ he said.
So I was to be party to this escapade. Well, I had some sympathy with it, and in any case I could hardly refuse. I contented myself with saying wryly, ‘You realise, Excellence, that we have no proof that Felix brings any letter of the kind? You may find that you have married your “Delicta” for nothing.’ If the lady was to be married to my patron, I thought, I might risk the familiar name.
I expected a rebuke for my insolence, but Marcus merely grinned. ‘All things considered, Libertus, I think that is a risk I am prepared to take. And if my family do not care for my marrying a provincial, they have only themselves to blame. Now, I will go and prepare myself for the curia. You can speak to Delicta, if you will.’
I had no preparations to make, so I took the two slave-boys with me and went out into the back courtyard where the private quarters lay, each bedroom opening separately off the covered walkway which bordered the inner gardens on three sides. I knew the layout of the house from my previous visit and I was able to lead the way to the widow’s apartments, a pair of interconnecting chambers: a small outer dressing room and sleeping quarters within.
At my signal one of the slaves tapped on the door. A handmaiden opened it. I could see Julia Delicta herself, seated in a gilded chair in the inner room, attended by a group of female slaves. One knelt before her with a mirror, another held a collection of oils and combs, while a third adjusted the exquisite blond tresses to her mistress’s satisfaction. It was a striking picture, made more striking because Delicta’s hair was of precisely the same remarkable golden-blond as that of the maidservant who answered the door. Of course — as I realised a moment afterwards — this was hardly surprising, since it was the same hair: the slave’s tresses had clearly been shorn off at some time and fashioned into an elaborate wig. Presumably Delicta liked it and was having a second one grown, or the girl would have been sold on again. Many fashionable women bought slaves for exactly the same purpose.
It was not a pleasing thought. My own wife, Gwellia, had been snatched from me and sold into slavery when I was. She too had beautiful hair: a waterfall of raven locks which had haunted my dreams ever since. I had no idea where she was — beyond a rumour that a Celtic slave of the same name had been sold to Eboracum — though I had searched for her tirelessly ever since I gained my freedom. The thought that she might be used in this way, as a kind of human sheep to be shorn for her mistress, was not an agreeable one.
Then Delicta saw me, and smiled a greeting. All disapproval evaporated. I recognised, not for the first time, what an exceedingly attractive woman she was. ‘Libertus!’ She motioned away her slaves, rose gracefully to her feet, and came towards me, extending a perfumed hand. ‘Excuse me that I was not present to greet you. I heard that there were visitors in the house and I was preparing myself to meet them. I did not guess that it was you. What a pleasure to see you again!’
She had a way, a gift almost, of making every man she spoke to feel like an emperor. I was not immune to it myself. Fortunately I have been a slave, and slaves learn early how to suppress desire, even of the most involuntary kind. I pulled myself together. ‘Lady, there are matters I must discuss with you.’ I nodded towards the maidservants. ‘In private, if I may. It concerns your guardian.’
She understood at once, and came out unattended into one of the arbours. I stationed the slave-boys out of earshot, and, sitting down beside her, told her of the plan.