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you anything to do with him?'
    We tutted and looked grieved by his interference. 'So you know what happened to his daughter?' Helena asked, trying to win the woman's friendship.
    'Yes, but my husband says, what has it to do with us?' Mistake, Tullia Helena hated women who sheltered behind their husbands. 'Valeria's - accident - is very unfortunate, and a tragedy for my poor son, but we feel, what is the purpose of dwelling on what happened?'
    'Maybe so you can console your son?' My voice was hard. I was remembering the dank contents of the lead coffin at the Caesius house.
    Tullia still failed to spot our rudeness. Again, her wary expression came and was quickly supplanted. 'Well, life must go on...'
    'And is your son still abroad?' Helena had recovered herself.
    'Yes.'
    'You must just want him home.'
    'I do! But, I confess I am dreading it. Who knows what state he will be in...' Next minute the mother was telling us that his condition was amazingly stable. 'He has decided to continue his journey, so he will have time to come to terms...'
    'Did that not surprise you?' I thought it astonishing, and I let her see it
    'No, he wrote us a long letter to explain. He said the other people on the trip are comforting him. He will stay among his new friends. Otherwise, he would have to make his way back to Rome, entirely alone, whilst in such trouble and unhappiness.
    Unconvinced, I cut across this. 'So what does he say about the death?'
    Once more, the mother looked anxious. She was intelligent enough to know we could find out the facts some other way, so she coughed. 'Valeria was found one morning, outside the lodging house, lying dead.' Already despising Statianus, I wondered what kind of newly-wed husband spent a whole night separated from his bride, not raising the alarm. One who had had a fight with her, perhaps?
    'Was there any thought of who might have done such a thing?' Helena took over before I lost my temper
    'Apparently not.' The mother of Statianus seemed a little too tight-lipped.
    'No doubt the local authorities investigated thoroughly?'
    'A woman in the party summoned a magistrate. Created a fuss.' Tullia seemed to think this responsible move was over-officious; then she told us why. 'Statianus found the investigation very difficult; the magistrate was set against him. A story began that my son must have had something to do with what had happened to Valeria - that maybe they had quarrelled - either that she had lost interest in him, or that his behaviour towards her drove her away...'
    The mother had said too much and knew it. Helena commented, 'You can see how a breach might happen with a new married couple, youngsters who had known one another only slightly beforehand, under the stress of travelling.'
    I sneaked in a question. 'Was it an arranged marriage?' All marriages are arranged by someone, even ours, in which we two had simply decided to live together. 'Did the couple know one another? Were they childhood friends?'
    'No. They had met several times in adulthood; they were content to be partners.'
    'How long ago was the wedding?'
    'Only four months...' Tullia Longina wiped away an invisible tear. At least this time she made the effort.
    'Valeria was nineteen. And your son?' I pressed on.
    'Five years older.'
    'So who arranged things for Valeria? Had she family?'
    'A guardian. Her parents are both dead.'
    'She is an heiress?'
    'Well, she has - had - a little money, but to be honest, it was something of a move downhill for us. So the careful Tullii had got away with putting in a small marriage portion. Money, therefore, seemed an unlikely motive for killing Valeria.
    I asked for, and to my surprise was given, details of Valeria's guardian. Not much hope there; he was an elderly great-uncle, who lived away in Sicily. He had not even attended the wedding. Fixing up Valeria must have been a duty call.
    'They were not close,' Tullia told us. 'I believe they had not even met since Valeria was a very small child.