b'14LISA E. BETZThank you.I suppose youll need me to clean her up?Dont you have flowers to arrange? Agneta can do it.Mintha snorted. That prissy fool is useless as a blind man in a blacksmiths shop. Youd best let me do it.Bless you, Mintha.Three basins of water later their patient was clean enough to allay any doubts. She was definitely Porcias new hairdresser. The one Porcia called a saucy little vixen with coarse manners and a coarser tongue. No sign of sauciness in the woman now. She was limp as a wilted lettuce leaf.Thats done then. Mintha rose stiffly to her feet. Id best be getting back to the flowers. Am I to do anything special for tonight, miss?Theusualarrangements,plussomegarlandsaroundthe door.Wont that be lovely. Ill just take these rags and fetch our patient something to eat.By the time the woman downed two cups of tonic and a bowl of gruel, shed regained a hint of color in her cheeks. Time to get to the bottom of this mystery. Livia knelt beside her patient. Glad to see you havent crossed the river to the land of the dead. How long were you trapped?Day and a half.How did it happen?A man was chasing me. It was night. I thought the ruined building would be a good place to hide, but the pile shifted and trapped my foot.Why would a ladys maid be running from strangers in the middle of the night in the wrong part of town? Only one answer came to mind. Livia crossed her arms. I wonder why that is, Roxana?All color vanished from the womans face.Youve run away, havent you?'