‘A lot of people do,’ he said, finishing his tea. ‘But the bodies were more likely buried under the church or elsewhere in the grounds. There could even have been cremations now and again and the pots of ash would have been buried instead of a body. That’s more of a Roman tradition but it’s stayed in these parts through the centuries.’

‘Why did the Kinmonts even have a mausoleum?’ asked Cordelia.

‘Status symbol,’ shrugged Harper. ‘Maybe first Kinmont had a nagging wife who wouldn’t let him sleep soundly until he promised to bury himself in something to rival Tutankhamun. Maybe he were superstitious and wanted to honour whichever of the gods on the stone meant most to him. I just know it’s a fine piece of work.’

‘You’re pretty well informed,’ said Cordelia. I think she meant it to sound flattering but I heard it as an accusation. How did he know all this when he hadn’t read as many books as she had. She was a one for those kind of assumptions, back then. Thought she were the only one who knew which way the world span.

‘I had the university commission three or four years back,’ said Harper. He had perched himself on the arm of the sofa and was looking at the teapot with the expression I know too well. He wanted somebody to pour him a fresh mug. I would have done it had Cordelia not been there. Somehow I felt she would have judged me.

‘University?’

‘Aye, the archaeologists. Pulling Birdoswald and Housesteads to bits. They reckoned there was a Roman cemetery just by the top of the ridge. Over the river.’

‘More bones,’ muttered Cordelia, looking down. It seemed a strange thing to say.

‘Urns, actually. Ash from the pyres. Old Billy turned up a load of artefacts with his plough back in 1950, and it took until lately to persuade him to let the experts in with their trowels and their graphs and the like. They went away happy.’

‘What were you doing?’

‘Pointing them in the right direction, I suppose. And there was a lot of heavy lifting to be done. Locals have been dismantling the wall and the forts for centuries. You’ll be hard pressed to find an old property around here that isn’t partly built from stones taken from the wall. Load of local masons got themselves on a sweet number before the war, helping rebuild bits of the wall to make it pretty for the tourists. There’s a lot of kids around here can tell you with absolute honesty that their dad built Hadrian’s Wall.’