Four for a Boy

Chapter Twenty-Six

John’s unease dogged him, abating only as he neared Dominica’s house. His shadower, if there indeed was one, remained as invisible as John’s fears.

The approach to the house he sought might have been just another narrow way cutting between brick boxes, apartment buildings which housed many of the administrative ant-like army that marched into palace offices every morning only to march back out each afternoon, the problems of the empire still largely unconquered.

The mansion was an eccentric affair, a two-story hexagonal structure with a series of porches. Hardly in keeping with the practical, unimaginative personality Anna had described. On the other hand, it had almost certainly been built by Dominica’s deceased husband.

John was halfway across the courtyard when a shout sounded from behind.

“You! Stop!”

He whirled. Several men rushed at him, brandishing weapons.

Dominica’s guards.

“I am here to see your mistress,” he called out hastily, fumbling for the Gourd’s letter of introduction. Further conversation was halted by the arrival of a curtained litter borne by six sturdy servants outfitted in matching red and yellow tunics. The litter was painted red and fitted with yellow curtains. Doubtless it had been accompanied by the guards who had just challenged him.

At a muffled command from within, the bearers set the litter down gently a few paces away. One of the guards snatched the letter from John’s hand and pushed it between the curtains.

John ruefully watched the official talisman vanish inside. He wondered if the Gourd’s magick charms were more efficacious than his seal. So far, the letter of introduction, while having the power to make aristocratic lips move, could not compel them to reveal anything useful.

As he waited, he studied the garishly painted carvings on the litter. Rows of crosses ran around the top, and a large cross was affixed to the front of the litter, tilted forward, pointing the way like the prow of a ship. Upon each yellow curtain had been painted an image of Christ and beneath it a short Biblical verse in Greek.

Before John could finish reading them, there was another murmur from within the litter and the guard drew its curtain partly open.

John stooped to see into the interior. Even in the suffused golden light seeping through the curtains, the widowed Dominica was a woman of stern visage. No makeup softened her wrinkles and her gray hair had been pulled back into a tightly coiled bun.

She gave John a keen look. “If the Prefect wants me to answer your questions, I will have to do so.”

“If you would be so kind,” John responded with a bow.

The interior of the litter was half-filled with blankets and pillows. Its front wall bore a shelf holding a trio of miniature busts of aristocratic mien. John recalled hearing that Dominica had survived three husbands.

“Are you going to question me or just stand there gaping? Senator Opimius told me about your grilling his colleague Aurelius. I think he rather enjoyed the spectacle. I never thought that I would be next on the skewer, especially since Opimius tells me you have been dismissed from tutoring his daughter.”

“A regrettable matter, but I assure you-”

“I don’t take reassurance from slaves. Lady Anna also spoke to me about you. In fact, she has spoken entirely over much about you. She should keep her attention on the aristocratic suitors she insists on driving off. All this talk about her being too plain for anyone to want to marry is nonsense. There are plenty of men who prefer intelligence to beauty, and even more are attracted to wealth. After all, you can rent beauty very cheaply. No, that is just her excuse. What does she think she will do when her father’s gone without someone to look after her? She’s an intelligent young woman, certainly, but not at all worldly. To go about accompanied by only one slave! Such madness!”

“You have not encountered any problems moving around the city?”

“Problems?”

“You have not been approached?”

“What do you mean? Attacked?”

“Yes. Or followed?”

“Certainly not! Besides, as you see, I am well guarded when I venture abroad. However, I don’t believe you sought me out to inquire about my safety. Get on with it!”

John proceeded. Dominica had little to say about Hypatius, although her tone of voice indicated disdain for the departed pillar of the community. She had even less to impart about any connections existing between the dead man and the several names John mentioned, including Trenico’s.

“They may have had business dealings, I don’t know. My steward takes care of the details,” she concluded. “Naturally I look over the account books now and then. When my husband was alive, that was his task. Even so, it is not a bad plan for women to inform themselves about their husbands’ business affairs, if not about the other sort.” A wintry smile lightened her face briefly.

Then she made the sign of her religion. “Lord forgive me,” she murmured. “I have been blessed with fine and faithful husbands, left the most wealthy of women. I do my best to honor their memory and order my life as they would have done.”

“Indeed,” John said. “I had hoped that perhaps you could cast some light on this matter, particularly given your interest in the Christ adorning the Great Church.”

“Co-sponsoring it, you mean? I merely sent a certain sum to Hypatius. Many have said that the work is impious or that it is intended to celebrate the talent of the artist, not the glory of the subject. Yet our talents are granted us by the Lord. If He had not meant for Dio to display his talent, He would not have blessed him with it. If people want to complain about impiety they should be bitterly complaining about this planned marriage of Justinian’s.”

John observed that he had heard numerous comments.

“And impious it is! I am not referring to Theodora’s past, you understand. What I meant is that while Justinian is, thankfully, orthodox in his beliefs, Theodora is a monophysite. How can there possibly be any harmony in such a marriage? More importantly, it bodes ill for both sets of believers. Theodora has such influence with Justinian that their union will doubtless lead to monophysites flooding the church. Justinian can refuse her nothing. It’s well known at court. Most unnatural, I do believe, for is it not the woman’s place to serve the man?”

“Is it wise to speak out publicly against Theodora?”

Dominica sniffed disdainfully. “Do you mean is it wise for me, or for people generally? Some of my acquaintances are already afraid of Theodora. She has a long memory and recalls every slight she’s received at the hands of the aristocracy. No doubt in due course it will suit her on occasion to remember slights she has fabricated. I should however like to see her try to implicate a pious widow such as myself in plotting against the empire, or any such nonsense!”

John, thinking that Dominica would be a worthy foe for many, even Theodora, smiled politely.

“You find me comical, then?”

John said he did not.

The widow looked up at him from her nest of pillows. “You think I don’t know everything I say to you will go straight to your master? You’re nothing but a wax tablet on which I write words for your masters to read. They are much more likely to dispose of their tablet than to harm me.”

“That is probably so.”

“You’ve realized why Hypatius visited the sculpture in the church so often, haven’t you?”

John looked nonplussed and Dominica laughed. “Have you learned nothing about him? After it was installed, he spent part of every day at the church. He liked to watch people admiring his donation, you see. He would often engage them in conversation about its merits. Yes, he was a man who did a great deal of good and he liked to take his reward for it in this world. I certainly hope the Patriarch decides to permit the Christ to remain there. Whatever turns the minds of common folk toward heaven is commendable.”

John murmured agreement.

“There are those who find the admonitions on the curtains of my litter in poor taste,” Dominica went on. “But I guarantee they’re the only spiritual works many in the street will ever read. Provided they can read, that is.”

Dominica paused. John thought she’d decided her wax tablet had been filled until she leaned forward and spoke again.

“Pay attention to what I have told you, particularly about Lady Anna. Consider what a wax tablet looks like when it has been tossed into the fire.”