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“It’s possessed by a demon!”
    A murmur of confusion filled the room and the girl in silk, who had lingered beside Anatolius and Isis, emitted a squeak of dismay.
    “Please, do not be alarmed,” Dedi went on. He placed a ring of glowing charcoals from a nearby brazier around the skull and then produced a leather bag from which he poured what looked like irregular pebbles. “This is incense, blessed long ago by none other than Simeon the Stylite. A special gift to me from Empress Theodora, before whom I recently had the pleasure of performing.”
    “He’s telling the truth,” Anatolius said. “I happened to witness that performance.”
    The skull uttered dire imprecations as Dedi added the incense to the charcoal. Thick, pungent smoke roiled upwards. The skull emitted a keening groan as the dark cloud enveloped it. When Dedi fanned the smoke aside, the skull had vanished.
    The crowd voiced its appreciation. Many sprang to their feet, craning to see better.
    The loquacious skull was nowhere to be seen.
    Anatolius noticed the prostitute beside him making the Christian holy sign and muttering thanks for the destruction of the evil thing.
    “Isis, the entertainment is splendid, but I’ve come to make some inquiries,” he said.
    Isis waved a chubby, beringed hand. “Yes, yes. But first you must see this!”
    Dedi had set upon the table a number of goblets, two jugs, and a large urn with a spout. He explained the urn contained wine and the jugs held water, inviting a man sitting nearby to approach and confirm this was the case.
    After confirmation was received, Dedi drew wine from the urn, drank it, flourished the first water jug, and then poured its contents into the urn.
    “This is an exceedingly peculiar vessel,” he told his attentive watchers in a confidential tone. “I can’t say whether it is magickal or accursed or just has humors of its own.”
    When he refilled his goblet from the spout, clear water streamed out, followed by a mixture of wine and water. Then, after more water was added, wine again.
    Members of the audience crowded around to inspect the wonder.
    “Isn’t it amazing?” said Isis. “I’ll wager Justinian would love to have an urn like that, if he weren’t so abstemious.”
    Anatolius expressed doubt. “I’d expect the emperor to prefer to know that nothing will come out of an urn that didn’t go into it.”
    “Spoken like a lawyer!”
    Anatolius frowned. “Why does everyone insist on mentioning my new profession? It isn’t as if I’ve changed. May we talk now in private?”
    Isis led him away. A murmur of excited voices followed them down a corridor whose wall hangings told the story of Leda and the swan in a manner more graphic than tasteful.
    Isis paused as she placed her hand on the swan-head latch of the door to her private chambers. “Do you know, Anatolius, these days there’s as much money to be made in wonders as in sexual comfort? I have thought I will give up this establishment and take to selling gryphon’s claws and salamander eggs and the mummified foreskins of saints. But then what would my girls do for a living?”
    Anatolius helped himself to wine and tried to make himself comfortable on an overly stuffed couch while Isis went off to find further refreshments. Compared to the garish decor of the rest of the house, the room was simply furnished with a few finely wrought chairs and side tables and subtly patterned wall hangings which, he guessed, were, like Isis, of Egyptian origin. The polished sandalwood writing desk where she did her accounts was a reminder that she had long since ceased laboring in her profession and become an owner.
    Isis returned with a silver bowl filled with nut-stuffed dates. “You’re looking glum, Anatolius. You haven’t suddenly developed religious scruples against my house, have you?”
    “Certainly not! It’s just that…well…I’m always of two minds when I come in here.”
    Isis daintily popped a date into her mouth and