Pompeii

the impact of the dive. The wives of the magistrates were still gossiping at the other end, where they had been joined by a dowdy middle-aged matron who sat demurely apart, her hands folded in her lap. A couple of slaves carrying trays laden with dishes passed behind them. There was a smell of cooking. A huge feast was clearly in preparation.
    His eye was caught by a flash of darkness beneath the glittering water and an instant later the swimmer broke the surface.
    'Corelia Ampliata!'
    He said her name aloud, unintentionally. She did not hear him. She shook her head, and stroked her black hair away from her closed eyes, gathering it behind her with both hands. Her elbows were spread wide, her pale face tilted towards the sun, oblivious to his watching her.
    'Corelia!' He whispered it, not wanting to attract the attention of the other women, and this time she turned. It took a moment for her to search him out against the glare of the atrium, but when she found him she began wading towards him. She was wearing a shift of thin material that came down almost to her knees and as her body emerged from the water she placed one dripping arm across her breasts and the other between her thighs, like some modest Venus arising from the waves. He stepped into the tablinum and walked towards the pool, past the funeral masks of the Popidii clan. Red ribbons linked the images of the dead, showing who was related to whom, in a criss-cross pattern of power stretching back for generations.
    'Aquarius,' she hissed, 'you must leave this place!' She was standing on the circular steps that led out of the pool. 'Get out! Go! My father is here, and if he sees you –'
    'Too late for that. We've met.' But he drew back slightly, so that he was hidden from the view of the women at the other end of the pool. I ought to look away, he thought. It would be the honourable thing to do. But he could not take his eyes off her. 'What are you doing here?'
    'What am I doing here?' She regarded him as if he were an idiot and leaned toward him. 'Where else should I be? My father owns this house.'
    At first he did not fully take in what she was saying. 'But I was told that Lucius Popidius lived here –'
    'He does.'
    He was still confused. 'Then – ?'
    'We are to be married.' She said it flatly and shrugged, and there was something terrible in the gesture, an utter hopelessness, and suddenly all was clear to him – the reason for Ampliatus's unannounced appearance, Popidius's deference to him, the way the others had followed his lead. Somehow Ampliatus had contrived to buy the roof from over Popidius's head and now he was going to extend his ownership completely, by marrying off his daughter to his former master. The thought of that ageing playboy, with his plucked and hairless body, sharing a bed with Corelia filled him with an unexpected anger, even though he told himself it was none of his business.
    'But surely a man as old as Popidius is already married?'
    'He was. He's been forced to divorce.'
    'And what does Popidius think of such an arrangement?'
    'He thinks it is contemptible, of course, to make a match so far beneath him – as you do, clearly.'
    'Not at all, Corelia,' he said quickly. He saw that she had tears in her eyes. 'On the contrary. I should say you were worth a hundred Popidii. A thousand.'
    'I hate him,' she said. But whether she meant Popidius or her father he could not tell.
    From the passage came the sound of rapid footsteps and Ampliatus's voice, yelling, 'Aquarius!'
    She shuddered. 'Please leave, I beg you. You were a good man to have tried to help me yesterday. But don't let him trap you, as he's trapped the rest of us.'
    Attilius said stiffly, 'I am a freeborn Roman citizen, on the staff of the Curator Aquarum, in the service of the Emperor, here on official business to repair the imperial aqueduct – not some slave, to be fed to his eels. Or an elderly woman, for that matter, to be beaten half to death.'
    It was her turn to be shocked. She put her hands to her mouth. 'Atia?'
    'Atia, yes – is that her name? Last night I found her lying in the street and took her back to my quarters. She had been whipped senseless and left out to die like an old dog.'
    'Monster!' Corelia stepped backwards, her hands still pressed to her face, and sank into the water.
    'You take advantage of my good nature, aquarius!' said Ampliatus. He was advancing across the tablinum. 'I told you to wait for me, that was all.' He glared at Corelia – 'You