The Fateful Day Read Online Free PDF Page B

would have missed it if I hadn’t strained my ears. Another. And another. Getting closer now. Then the sound of muffled sandals in the corridor outside. By this time my heart was beating so hard against my chest that it was almost all that I was conscious of. I braced myself, unable even to turn round to face the door, fearful of making the slightest scuffling. No one could have known that I was here, I told myself. No one could have seen me through the window glass. So it wasn’t me that they were looking for. If I could hold my breath – which I was doing anyway – so they couldn’t even hear me breathe, perhaps they’d go away and wouldn’t know that I was here.
    It was a faint hope, as I was all too well aware. The footsteps had paused outside this very room. I kept on holding my breath, concentrating hard, but suddenly the door flew open and before I’d even had the time to whirl around, a hand fell on my shoulder and a voice said loudly, ‘There you are, at last. I wondered where you’d got to! What are you doing here?’

FOUR
    A lmost faint with apprehension and alarm, I forced myself to turn and face this newcomer, only to find that I was staring at my own adopted son. Relief undid me. My old knees crumpled and I sat down heavily on the mosaic floor, my legs deprived abruptly of the strength to hold me up.
    ‘Father!’ Junio had come and was bending over me. His face was all concern. ‘Are you all right?’
    I nodded, reaching out a hand for him to help me to my feet. ‘You almost gave me a heart attack, that’s all. What are you doing here?’
    ‘Looking for you,’ he said, ignoring my hands and coming round behind me to lift me by the elbows and haul me to my feet. ‘We got concerned when you were gone so long, and set off for the prospective vineyard field to search for you.’
    With his help I found myself unsteadily upright. ‘And they told you that they’d seen me, I suppose?’
    He was still holding both my arms to support me, but he said, ‘We never got that far. When we reached the villa we saw the mule outside and guessed that you had come here. We didn’t realise there was no one else about. We hammered at the gate, but it was open anyway and when no one answered we decided to come in.’ He looked around. ‘What’s happened, by the way? Has there been some sort of change of plan? Where have the servants gone?’
    ‘You didn’t look inside the gatehouse, then?’ I said, freeing myself and readjusting my tunic round my knees.
    He shook his head. ‘When there was no answer, there did not seem to be much point. As I said, the gate was open so we didn’t really need the man to let us in. We assumed that he was busy bringing you inside …’ He broke off, looking anxiously at me. ‘Why, Father? What made you ask that question? Don’t shake your head like that. What happened at the gatehouse? Something did! I see it in your face.’
    ‘The gatekeeper!’ I muttered, still too shaken to give a full account. ‘I looked in and found him …’
    ‘If that brute treated you disrespectfully, just let us know!’ he said. ‘We’ll go and talk to him. He may be big but there are two of us. He won’t try that again!’
    ‘Two of you?’ I murmured stupidly, though of course he had been talking in the plural all the time. I should have worked out that he hadn’t come alone.
    ‘Minimus came with me, naturally,’ he said. ‘You might have needed help – if you had fallen off the mule or something of the kind. In fact, you look as if you need some help right now. You’re still looking shaken. I think we should find somewhere for you to sit down.’
    I shook my head. ‘Marcus seems to have put most of his furniture in store. We’ll probably find it stacked up in a barn, unless he’s sent it over to Corinium for his wife. But I’ll be all right now, the more so since you and Minimus are here.’
    He grinned. ‘Maximus was disappointed to be left behind. We three had all been