`Yes, thank goodness. We get a lot of sand, but the thought of receiving body parts is decidedly unpleasant.' He warmed to his theme. 'If there were loose debris in the aqueduct my calix could become blocked inside the water tower. I might not complain immediately; private houses are always the first to be cut off if there's a problem. I suppose that's fair.' Camillus was always tolerant._ `I can't see the water' board admitting that they'd found something unhygienic inside the castellum. I imagine I'm being supplied with sparkling water straight from the Caerulean Spring – but is the stuff from the aqueducts really safe to drink?'

`Stick to wine,' I advised him. Which reminded us to go' indoors to dine.

When we passed through the folding doors to the dining room we found' a more formal spread than was usual here,' so fatherhood brought some benefits. There were seven adults dining. I kissed the, cheek of Julia Justa, Helena's mother, a proud, polite woman who managed not to flinch. I greeted her arrogant elder son Aelianus with a mock sincerity that s I knew would annoy him, then gave an unfeigned grin to the tall, more slightly built figure of his brother Justinus.

As well as the entire Camillus family and myself, there was Claudia Rufina, a smart but rather solemn young girl Helena and I had brought over from Spain who was staying here because we had no guest bed to offer her. She was of provincial birth but good family, and would be welcome in all but the snobbiest homes, since she was of marriageable age and sole heiress to a large fortune. Helena and I greeted her kindly. We had introduced Claudia to the Camilli in the flagrant hope that this could be their route to a villa at Neapolis at last.'

So it might prove: we heard that she had. already agreed to a betrothal. The Camilli must possess a ruthless streak. Less than a week after Helena and Iliad delivered this reserved young woman to their house, they had offered her Aelianus.

Claudia, who knew him from the time he had spent in Spain, had been brought up to be a good-mannered guest – and Julia Justa had not let her meet any other young men – so she had meekly agreed. A letter had been despatched to her grandparents inviting them to Rome to seal the arrangements straight away. Things had happened so fast it was the first we had heard of it.,

`Olympus!' cried Helena.

`I'm sure you will both be extraordinarily happy,' I managed to croak. Claudia looked sweetly pleased by this concept, as if nobody had led her to think her well-being came into it.

They would be as miserable together as most couples, but were rich enough to have a large house where they could avoid one another. Claudia, a quiet girl with a rather big nose, was dressed in white in mourning for her brother, the intended heir, who had been killed in an accident; she probably welcomed something new to think about. Aelianus wanted to enter the Senate, for which he needed money; he would go along with anything. Besides, he was crowing over Justinus, his better-looking and more popular younger brother.

Justinus himself only smiled, shrugged, and looked mildly curious, like a sweet-tempered lad who wondered what the fuss was all about. I had once worked closely with him abroad. His vague air was masking a broken heart; he had fallen heavily for a blonde visionary prophetess in the forests of barbarian Germany (though once back in Rome he had swiftly consoled himself by starting an even more impossible liaison with an actress). Quintus Camillus Justinus always looked as if he didn't know the way to the Forum – but he had hidden depths.

The evening passed off so peacefully that when we were dawdling home in the litter, ignoring the grumblings of the bearers who had expected me to walk alongside, Helena felt drawn to comment: `I hope you noticed the transformation, now we have produced a child?'

`How's that?'

Her great brown eves danced with complicity-. `Nobody takes the slightest notice of you and me. Not one person asked us when we were going to find somewhere better to live-'

`Or when I would be starting a decent job'-'

`Or when the formal wedding' was to be -'

`If I'd have known all it took was a baby I would have borrowed one long ago.'

Helena surveyed Julia. Worn out by several hours of accepting adulation, she was sleeping deeply. In about another hour, just as I nodded off in bed, all that would change. Most informers stay unmarried. This was one of the reasons. On the other hand, a, night-time surveillance in some street away from home – even if it contained a tannery and an illegal fish-pickle still and was infested with garlic eating prostitutes whose pimps carried butcher's knives, – was starting to offer unexpected attractions. A man who knows how to prop himself up can doze quite refreshingly in a shop portico.

`What about Aelianus and Claudia?' asked my, beloved.

`Your mild-mannered parents have the knack of taking prompt action.'

`I hope it works.' She sounded neutral; that meant she felt concerned.'

`Well, she said yes. Your father is a fair man, and your mother wouldn't let Aelianus be trapped if it was likely to go wrong.' They needed Claudia's money badly, however. After a moment I asked quietly, `When you were married to that bastard Pertinax, what did your mother have to say?'

`Not much.'

Helena's mother had never liked me – which proved there was nothing wrong with her judgement. Helena Justina's first marriage had been suggested for his own sticky reasons by her uncle (the one I shoved in the sewer later), and at the time even Julia Justa would have found the match hard to oppose. Helena herself had tolerated Pertinax as long as she could, then without consultation had issued a notice of divorce. The husband's family tried to arrange a reconciliation. By then she had met me. That was the end of it.

`Before her grandparents arrive, we'd better talk to Claudia,' I said. Since we had brought the girl here, we were both feeling responsible.

`I had a few words while you were hiding with my father in his study. And by the way,' demanded Helena warmly, `what exactly were you two up to?'

`Nothing, my darling. I was just letting him complain some more about the Census.'

In fact, I had been testing an idea on Camillus Verus. His mentioning the Census had suggested a way that I might earn some money. I won't say I was exerting my authority by not telling Helena about it, but it would amuse me to see how long it took her to winkle out the details from her father or me. Helena and I had no secrets. But some schemes are men's work. Or so we like to tell ourselves.

TEN

Glaucus, my trainer, was as sharp as a kitten's claw. A short, wide-shouldered Cilician freedman, he ran a bath-house two streets behind the Temple of Castor, It had a select gymnasium attached for people like me who had life-and-death reasons for keeping their bodies in trim – A library and pastry – shop amused other clients – the discreet middle class who could afford to pay for his overheads and whose moderate habits never disrupted the hushed atmosphere. Glaucus only offered membership by personal introduction.

He knew his regulars better than they knew themselves. Probably none of us were at all close to him. After twenty years of listening to other people revealing their secrets while he worked on their muscle tone, he knew how to avoid that trap: But he could tease out embarrassing information as smoothly as a thrush emptying a snail shell.

I had his measure. When he started the extraction process, I grinned and told him, `Just stick with asking if I'm planning any holidays this year.'

`You're overweight and ridiculously tanned; you're' so relaxed I'm surprised you don't fall over; I can tell you've been lying around on a farm somewhere, Falco'