Agatha, the housekeeper, led Marinus up a flight of stone steps and across a landing to a large, handsomely furnished room. He was just taking in his new surroundings when she shut the door behind them and addressed him in a low hiss.

  "I will only say this once, sir, so you had better listen closely. I do not know what sort of scheme you and your boyfriend are up to..." Marinus opened his mouth to correct her, but she raised a finger to silence him, "but I am sure you would not like to have yourselves exposed as frauds to my master, nor to master Agon," she said, and her thin face was lit up with a look of cunning.

  Marinus kept silent, not daring either to confirm or contradict her.

  "I shall not expose you," she went on, with a strange light in her eyes that was anything but kindly, "though I shall expect something in return if you wish to buy my silence."

  "I see," Marinus said, straightening up and looking down his nose at her. Inwardly his heart beat rapidly, and he nearly despaired – what had he to offer this grasping woman?

  "You mean to sneak into Agon's household, I think?" she went on, that hungry look still blazing in her eyes. Marinus nodded, breaking her gaze.

  "Then let me explain to you. Lady Hippolyta, Agon's wife, has something: a necklace of diamonds. Priceless, it is..."

  "And you want us to steal it..." Marinus said, feeling a hollow pit open up in his stomach.

  "She is very proud of this necklace, and wears it most days – though I have it on the word of a servant in the house that she keeps it on a beside table at night while she sleeps..."

  "You've got the wrong people, I'm sorry, we aren't criminals..." Marinus objected, but the woman cut him off.

  "I shall go downstairs right now, and tell my master-"

  "All right!" Marinus said, raising his voice in his desperation. Agatha raised her eyebrows, her hand resting on the door handle.

  "I will try and get this necklace, but you must give me some time," he said, conscious of his own loathsome cowardice and compromise.

  "I will give you a week before I reconsider," Agatha said, with a greedy smile on her face. She released the door handle. "And if I were you I would ask pretty boy, down there, to steal it. He should have ample opportunity once he's all dolled up."

  Marinus pushed past her on his way to the door, hating himself. On the landing he stopped, however, and turned back.

  "I am afraid that most of our possessions were lost in the wreck on the coast here," he said in a level voice. "My dear companion, Pusanella, will require clothes. She cannot go around in the rags she currently has on."

  "I will see to it, sir," Agatha said with a curtsey, taking on an air of professional indifference. "In the meantime I had better hand this letter to Anneus." And she bustled past him down the stairs.

  Marinus waited until he heard her leave the house before rushing downstairs. He thought it high time to rescue Pelleus from the old man's company. But when he found them they appeared entirely at ease, seated on low couches in a spacious living room. Onesimus was talking to Pelleus, and looked up when he heard Marinus approaching.

  "Will you take some refreshment with me?" their host asked. "I think we shall have to wait an hour or so for Anneus to dispatch my letter and bring back Agon's reply."

  He wandered off to the larder to fetch an amphora of wine, leaving the two youths alone together. They listened for the sound of his footsteps retreating along the passage before breaking the silence.

  "What did she say to you, the housekeeper?" Pelleus hissed in a whisper.

  "Oh, nothing much," Marinus lied. "I told her you had lost your luggage in the wreck and had had to wear some of my clothes, hence your appearance."

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "And she believed you?" Pelleus asked incredulously.

  "She agreed to find us some lady's clothes, so that is something," Marinus replied, avoiding the question. "Has Onesimus twigged yet?" he asked.

  "No! Thank heavens... he's just been telling me a bit of the island's history."

  "Oh," Marinus said, "... did you ask him about your father?"

  "I didn't like to risk it. I was trying to get by with the bare minimum, as you can imagine."

  "I must say I expected the old man to be a bit sharper, given what Anneus said about him: 'he's the cleverest man I've ever met'," Marinus remarked.

  "Yes, well, wisdom doesn't always equate to perceptiveness, I guess. Besides, even if he suspects something, maybe he's too polite to ask," Pelleus said, and his face looked troubled. He suddenly gestured for Marinus to stifle his next statement – he could hear Onesimus shuffling along the corridor.

  "Ah, here we are: a fine vintage from my cellars, Faunus, it is called," the old man said, dusting off a very old jar and turning it to show the seal pressed into the clay on its neck. Both youths made appreciative sounds in their throats like a pair of pigeons as Onesimus unstoppered the vessel.

  "If master Marinus would pour... this requires a steady hand," he said, passing the amphora to the young man.

  "To love and friendship!" Onesimus said, and they raised their glasses. Marinus threw his friend a wink.

  ...

  "He knows!"

  "He doesn't know."

  "He knows!"

  The two youths were standing in Marinus's new room, arguing, while Agatha the housekeeper bustled about on the landing, sweeping and making a great deal of noise as she did so. She had just presented Pelleus with a long, flowing peplos of violet hue and a heavy, deep-blue veil. In addition, she had offered to braid his hair in Arcadian fashion, "just as all the fine ladies have it done," she said, with a conspicuous smile on her face. She must have thought their chances of recovering the necklace either very good or very poor, and Marinus didn't like to guess which.

  For the moment, however, she had left the two of them alone while she did her chores, and they had snatched the opportunity for a little talk.

  "Why would he have gone on about Chrysanthe and her charms so much, if he didn't suspect something?" Pelleus muttered, referring to their chat with Onesimus over a glass of wine.

  "He was just trying to reassure you; ease you into your new situation! He was being kind," Marinus replied.

  "I don't want to go wandering into a trap," Pelleus went on, pacing the room, "for all we know, Agon could be ready to throw me into a dungeon as soon as I set foot on his estate..."

  "But there's no way Onesimus could have tipped him off; Anneus delivered the message, remember, and we were there when he dictated it! Besides, the two noblemen, Agon and Onesimus, are practically enemies by the sound of things. It's only respect for local customs that persuaded Agon to take you in in the first place," Marinus said reasonably.

  "I'm sure that housekeeper is laughing at me behind my back..." Pelleus began, but Marinus cut him off.

  "You had better go and put those on," he said, indicating the women's clothes, "Onesimus said someone from the estate would be along to collect you."

  Pelleus stomped angrily out of the room, and Marinus saw Agatha trotting after him happily – until the lad slammed a door in her face. Marinus chortled.

  "Well, he'll have to mend his manners before moving in with Agon's people. That wasn't so ladylike," he said in an undertone, but a glare from Agatha wiped the smile off his face.