'Because I can see right through the crates packed inside the wagons as if they were invisible!' said Claudia, then laughed when she saw that Meto seemed to be taking her seriously. 'I know, Meto, because those wagons have been coming down the Cassian Way since I was a girl, taking Arretine vases to Rome. They're awfully valuable — hence the armed guard, and the slow procession. If it were anything else valuable enough to justify the guards, the wagons would be going twice as fast. Gold and silver don't break, but fine clay vases do.'

The progress of the wagons did seem to take forever as they crept along the ribbon of road. There was no sign of Catilina.

Then Meto made an odd noise in his throat, and when I glanced at him, he made an almost imperceptible nod. I followed his gaze to a point on the mountain at least two hundred feet above the road, where a patch of blue the shade of Catilina's tunic flashed in a clearing amid the green canopy. The blue patch moved and was joined by another; I squinted, and the blue patches resolved quite clearly into two men moving about on the mountainside.

Claudia, busy leaning over her basket, did not see.

'Actually, Gordianus, I was hoping to run into you here on the ridge, for otherwise I should have had to come to pay a formal visit, and that would have been no fun at all. And I'm glad that you happen to be here as well, Meto, for I think this involves you, too.' She sat back and pursed her lips. For a moment I thought she was looking directly across the valley at Catilina and Tongilius, but she was only staring absently into the middle distance, thinking about what she had to say.

'What is it, Claudia?’

'Oh, this is so difficult…'

'Yes?'

'I had a visit this morning from my cousin Gnaeus. He says there were strangers on his mountain yesterday, men from Rome hiking up to visit the old mine.'

'Is that a fact?' I looked across the way and saw that Catilina and Tongilius had disappeared amid the foliage again.

'Yes. Some business about one of them wanting to purchase the old mine, or representing someone who might. Nonsense, if you ask me — the mine is worthless now. There's no more silver to be got from it. Anyway, Gnaeus was asking if I happened to have seen anyone traipsing about on the mountain yesterday — you can see quite a bit of the old trail from my house, you know, though it's a long way off. Well, as a matter of feet, no, I hadn't seen a thing, and none of my slaves had noticed anyone on the mountainside either.'

Claudia paused to chew an olive. 'Gnaeus says he didn't know any of these men, and only one of them bothered to introduce himself — one of the Sergii, up from Rome, as I said. But afterwards Gnaeus questioned the goatherd who had shown the men around, an old fool named Forfex, and do you know what the man told him?'

'I can't imagine.'

'He said that along with this Sergius there was a younger man who seemed to be his companion, and then there was another middle-aged man and a youth. He didn't know them, but he seemed to recall hearing the man addressed as Gordianus.' She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

I thought for a moment. 'Did Gnaeus see these four visitors for himself?'

'Yes. But the light was growing dim. And despite his youth, Gnaeus doesn't have the best eyesight. That's why he seldom catches a boar!'

'Ah. Then you're asking me—'

'No, I'm asking you nothing. I can tell everything from your face. Well, not everything, but enough. If you wish to go snooping about my cousin's property, that is a matter between you and him. And if Gnaeus wishes to confront you about the matter, he can do so himself; I'm not his messenger. However, Gordianus, I would be derelict in my duties as a blood relation of Gnaeus, and as a good neighbour to you, if I merely kept silent. Gnaeus was not happy when Forfex repeated your name, nor was he happy when he came to see me this morning. I doubt that he'll come to see you or even send you a message; he prefers to keep to himself and brood, disappearing into the woods to hunt his boars. But if there is some untoward business going on, I advise you to consider your position very carefully, Gordianus. Be cautious! My kinfolk are not to be trifled with. There is only so much I can do to mollify them. I tell you this as a friend.'

She paused for a moment to allow this to sink in, then bent over and reached into her basket. 'And now I have a surprise — honey cakes!

My new cook baked them fresh this morning. Alas, he's no Congrio, but he does have a way with sweets.'

Meto managed to tear his eyes from the mountainside; he has always had a taste for honey. He ate the little cake quickly and then licked his fingertips. Claudia offered me a cake, but I declined.

‘You don't care for sweets, Gordianus? The new cook will take it very badly if I return with them uneaten.'

'A touch of Cicero's complaint,' I explained, touching my stomach and frowning.

'Oh, but here I've gone and upset your digestion with all this talk of Gnaeus. How thoughtless of me, to give you bread and cheese and unpleasant news at the same time. Perhaps a honey cake will settle your stomach.'

'I think not.' It was not only Claudia's news that upset my stomach, but the tension of knowing that she might spot Catilina on the mountainside or emerging onto the road at any moment. The real cure would have been for her to simply go away. But she had more to say.

'So the toga party is this month. What day?'

'Two days before the Ides.'

'Ah, just after the elections.'

I nodded but said nothing, hoping my silence would keep the conversation away from politics. It was bad enough that I was planning to be in the city immediately after the voting. Whether Catilina won or lost, his supporters or enemies were likely to be out in the streets rioting in protest. And if, as Caelius had hinted, there was actual revolution in the air, then Rome was the last place I wanted to be.

Claudia nodded and smiled. 'Ten days from now, and you will be a man, Meto! But I shall save my congratulations until then. I assume you'll be having some little celebration in the city before he takes his walk in the Forum. Would it be too forward of me to beg an invitation?'

'Will you be in the city, Claudia?'

'I'm afraid so,' she sighed. 'Along with my dear cousins. They're all planning to be in the city to vote this time around. Afraid Catilina might somehow slip through, you know. The actual voting is all up to the men, of course, and usually I don't go to Rome at all at this time of year, but there's no way out of it. It's that house on the Palatine that Lucius left me — I'm planning to rent it out, and the slave who runs the place tells me it's due for some renovations. Well, I'm not about to let one of Lucius's old slaves make the arrangements and spend my money. I shall oversee everything myself. I'm leaving tomorrow, and I suspect I’ll be there most of the month.' She raised her eyebrows and looked at me expectantly.

Then of course you must come to Meto's birthday party,' I said.

'Oh, thank you! I should love to see it. Never having had a son, myself you know…' Her voice trailed off. 'And I shall bring honey cakes!' she added, brightening. 'Meto will like that.' She reached out and touched his shoulder. Meto smiled a bit shyly, then a strange expression crossed his face.

He was watching something down below. I followed his gaze and saw Catilina and Tongilius emerging from the woods onto the road.

Claudia seemed to sense that something was amiss, for I saw her glance oddly at Meto and then felt her eyes on me. 'Perhaps—' I began. 'Perhaps I would enjoy one of those honey cakes, after all.'

'Ah, good, let me see, here's a nice one right on top,' she said, bending over her basket.

I took the cake from her and looked her in the eye as I bit into it. She smiled and nodded, then abruptly looked down towards the road.