THE SORCERESS STORY TOOK A WHILE TO BE LET SLIP. BY then, Cornelius was back among our group, devouring his dinner at a local eatery as if he had never been scared. I noticed that Gaius remained rather quiet, but he was old enough to know they were in disgrace, even though we were no longer carrying on at them. That was still a possibility, once the wine flowed some more. Gaius knew that all the Didius family would moan on for days, polishing up the argument with every sit-down meal until somebody snapped and threw pots at the wall. ‘Shut up; it was nothing,’ he ordered his younger cousin grumpily.
‘No, I know she was a sorceress! She had a conical hat.’
‘Well, that proves she was a witch,’ mocked Albia. ‘Was she casting spells behind a tomb?’
‘No, she was beside the road,’ muttered Gaius.
‘Vials of toad’s blood?’ queried Helena. ‘Purple fire? Dead men’s toenails?’
‘Jugs of water.’
‘We went up the hill for a long, long time,’ Cornelius complained. ‘We were tired out. We were desperate for a drink –’
‘Climbing a steep hill, on a hot day. You took nothing with you?’ Glaucus asked laconically, laying his big palms flat on the table edge. He had been trying to teach them to look after their bodies. Both boys became shamefaced again.
‘Anyway, it was all right,’ Cornelius sounded virtuous. ‘We got some. We came on this strange old woman –’
‘Really old?’ Helena checked with Gaius. He pulled a face, implying not necessarily. ‘And how strange exactly?’ Gaius saw that defining female strangeness might embarrass him, so he ripped up a loaf and stuffed it in his mouth. Helena and Albia exchanged a glance.
Cornelius rushed on with his tale: ‘This old woman was sitting cross-legged on a big ledge. She had water containers and some cups, and she offered us a drink. I was scared of her but we were so hot, I thought we would die if we didn’t have any.’
‘How much did it cost?’ I asked. They wriggled and managed to avoid telling me.
‘The thing was –’ Now Cornelius was indignant. ‘When we got just a little way further on, we came to a spring, which people told us was the upper fountain of Peirene. So we could have had a nice cold drink there for free. She cheated us.’
‘No doubt the upper fountain was where she filled her water pots . . . And that’s sorcery?’ Helena smiled at him. ‘Sounds as if she’s just a good businesswoman.’
Gaius cracked a clam shell, deliberately trying to break a tooth. He was mortified at being outwitted by some crone in a straw hat. I assured him the Corinthian drinks scam probably went back centuries. ‘You won’t be the first sweet-natured innocent who fell for it.’
‘She wasn’t local.’ Gaius spoke in a doom-laden voice. ‘Just an itinerant, passing through Corinth on her way to a new pitch. Uncle Marcus, we did talk to her; we tried to pick her brains like professionals. She goes to different places. She always sets up on hills. People flag, as they struggle with the climb, and are grateful she is there. She works at Olympia sometimes. She sits on the Hill of Cronus. So Cornelius and I think you should go up the acropolis here and talk to her.’
‘Well that’s it.’ I banged my spoon down on the table. ‘This is the last time you two are let out on your own. As a consequence of today’s ridiculous jaunt, I too am supposed to tire myself out and get heatstroke, in order to have some batty conversation with a gnarled old Greek granny who cheats little boys of their pocket money and calls it a public service.’
Nobody spoke for a few moments.
‘You could take a donkey,’ Helena suggested sweetly. After a second she added, ‘I’ll give you some pocket money, darling, so the sorceress can cheat you out of it.’