and a circular pond in the centre. All around were colonnades of the same white pillars that held up the atrium.
Karen heard the sound of children laughing from somewhere in the middle, and pushed through the flowering bushes until she came out in an open space of grass where a little boy and girl, both about seven years old, were playing with a ball.
When they saw Karen they stopped and stared curiously. The boy was the first to speak.
'What do you want?'
This was not a good start, and Karen felt a sinking sensation. What did she want? Pompous little so-and-so. Perhaps she'd work it out of him. She forced herself to smile.
'I'm your new nurse.' she said, 'I'm supposed to keep you amused.' The boy tossed his head and said, 'Huh!' but the girl smiled back and said, 'Come and play, then.'
Karen started to toss the ball to and fro with them.
'You do play in a funny way,' said Lucilla. 'Can't you catch with your left hand like we do?
'No,' said Karen, 'we never played that way. It doesn't make much difference, really.'
'You're stupid,' said Gaius vindictively, and Karen ignored him. He was only trying to be nasty deliberately.
The rest of the morning passed quite quickly, between chatter and games, and then Karen had to take the children in to clean up ready for lunch. Lucilla was a nice child, obedient and sunny, but Gaius already imitated the ways of his imperious mother. He refused to let Karen wipe his face once in the bathroom, so she asked him if he would rather do it himself.
'No!' he said. 'I'm not supposed to do it myself. You must fetch another attendant to do it.'
Attendant. He'd have picked that up from his mother, Karen thought. So he thought he was going to send her off on a wild goose chase to find someone to wipe his dirty face for him, did he? Well, he'd got another thought coming.
However, she kept a rein on her temper for the moment; there was no sense in fighting without trying to reason first. 'Why won't you let me do it, without dragging other people from their work?'
'Because you're stupid.' He stamped his foot, the perfect picture of the moody child.
'Oh, Gaius,' said Lucilla, 'don't be silly.' She took Karen's hand. 'Don't mind him. He's often like that, but it's because nobody ever told him he was naughty. He is naughty, isn't he?'
'Yes,' said Karen firmly. 'He most certainly is. And what's more, someone's going to tell him so right now.' She turned to Gaius.
'Stop stamping your foot like that! And get your face washed this minute, before I get really angry.'
Gaius started with 'I want an attendant' again, but that was as far as he got. Karen seized him and wiped his face forcibly with the damp cloth, and then rubbed it dry with the towel. He was temporarily obliterated beneath water and towel, and Karen had to grip him very tightly to stop him thrashing about and upsetting everything in reach. When he came up again he was surprisingly silent. He breathed stertorously through an open mouth, and regarded Karen with some awe; for the rest of the day he was very obedient, and no more was said about it.
At last, when she had finally got them into bed, Karen was free to go there herself. As she was going along to the slaves' quarters, yawning, she met Tiro.
'Hullo.' he said grinning, 'How did you make out as nursemaid?'
'Not bad. That Gaius is a little devil, isn't he?'
'You can say that again! Everyone's heard how you put him in his place. Jolly good for you! Let's hope you keep him there.'
They had a few more clashes, but after the first ones Gaius improved. It took time, but gradually Karen could see that he was beginning to like her. One night he asked her to tell him a story, and she told both children the one about the Sleeping Beauty. They had never heard it, because strictly speaking it had not been written yet, but they enjoyed it immensely, and after that they were clamouring for a fairy story every night.
Another time Gaius actually pulled Karen's face down to his and kissed her goodnight. Lucilla always did, but it was a sign of progress for Gaius to do so. And one day he took her by the hand and whispered in her ear, 'I'll show you the puppies if you like,' and took her round the back of the house to the stables, where a handsome hound bitch was sprawled in the straw with a litter of two-weeks-old puppies. Karen shared Gaius's delight in them, and he showed her which one he was going to have.
'I think Lucilla wants one, too,' he said. 'You can share mine.'
Karen thanked him gravely, thinking how much he had changed, and then they both laughed, and rolled the puppies on their backs for the fun of seeing them sprawl in the soft hay.
He's not a bad kid when you know him, Karen decided.
The others told her that he was a positively reformed character since her arrival, and urged her to keep up the good work. He had only been like that because the previous nurses had been slavish-natured women who ministered to his every whim. He had soon found that if he threatened to tell his mother when he did not have things exactly his own way, they would tremble with apprehension and do anything he wanted.
Karen had quickly cured him of this. 'All right,' she used to say, 'go and tell your mother. Perhaps she'll give you another sweet,' or whatever it was he wanted. Gaius knew as well as she did that Julia would never be bothered with his petty complaints, even if she had time for them, and so this floored him. Sometimes Karen thought that the Lady Julia ought to take more interest in her children than occasionally inquiring about their progress, but it was not her place to say so. Besides, for all Julia's casualness, little Lucilla loved her faithfully from a distance.
On the days when the children went out visiting, Karen was given other jobs to do, such as dusting or going down to the market with the under-steward. She had stopped herself thinking about the twentieth century, and instead used to wonder what had become of Kleon. She had several friends now among the other slaves, Tiro being the first. The rest were Rhoda, who was sixteen, black-haired, and one of Julia's personal attendants, Anicetus, a serious man of Jewish descent, who worked in the stables, and Gallus, a very good-looking Gaul, the personal pride of Lucius Domitius himself. Whenever a party or a dinner was being held, it was certain that poor Gallus would be there, dressed to show off his good looks to advantage. He was a sort of Roman symbol of the 'keeping-up-with-the-Joneses', and Karen liked him though others were jealous.
There was also Volumnia, whose task was to keep the women slaves in order and make sure that they weren't hanging around the men's dormitory in the evening. Last thing at night she counted heads in the female dormitory and locked the door. She was no friend of Karen's, or anyone else for that matter. She was tall and straight as a ramrod, with an iron temperament to match. She was continually creeping around the house, in order to catch any gossipers unawares.
'Tomorrow we're going to see the chariot-racing in the Circus Maximus,' said Gaius one evening, 'I want the Reds to win, but I bet the Greens will.'
'Why?' asked Karen, tucking the coverlet over him.
'Please don't tuck it in. It's so hot at night. Because the emperor backs the Greens. 'Does that mean they'll win?'
Gaius nodded, and she did not question him further. She had almost forgotten about Nero until Gaius brought up the subject. Yes, the Greens probably would win, or if they didn't the other teams would pay for it.
'There's another bit of news for you,' said Gaius, 'but I’m not going to tell you till you tell me a story! A nice new one. One with some magic in it. I like magic.'
'So do I,' Lucilla giggled. 'Poor Karen. I bet you're dying to hear the other news. I'll tell you before, if you promise to tell a story after.'
'Promise.'
'Zenocrates is taking Hanno to the market tomorrow to sell him and buy a new slave! So there'll be a different one for you to make friends with.'
'I don't know why you're so excited about it, Lucilla,' scoffed Gaius, secretly put out at not having imparted the news himself. 'After all, mother's always wanting the slaves changed.'
Lucilla fell silent, dampened. She was talkative and animated, but easily discouraged by an attitude of scorn, so Karen tried to start her off again.
'How long does your mother keep her slaves usually?'
'Oh, it depends how soon she gets tired of them! But don't worry, she won't get rid of you. She likes you, I heard her say so. Now tell me the story ... '
'All right. Umm ....Once upon a time there was an old couple who had no children and one day ....'
Her voice droned on, telling the story of Tom Thumb, and the children listened through to the end in silence; but Karen's mind was not on it. She was thinking about the new slave.
When the tale was ended, Lucilla said, 'That was a lovely story. I should like to see a little man as small as my thumb. Goodnight, Karen. Leave the door open a bit; I like to see the light come through.'
Karen smiled as she pushed the door almost to. Being a slave had its compensations.
She walked slowly along the passage-ways, towards the kitchen quarters where she called in at the scullery and helped Tiro and the scullery-boy with the washing-up. Then she continued to the back of the house where the women slaves' dormitory was.
This was a long, narrow room with straw pallets down the length of the floor; in winter the slaves had a blanket each but in summer there was no need. Indeed, in the hot months the very thought of a blanket was sickening, although the window at the far end of the room was always kept
Lynne Ellison's The Green Bronze Mirror Page 9
