Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [103]
That had been in the middle of winter. From what he could gather, the position today was the same. The muscular groom was still here, and the nimbly watchful manservant, but their special skills had not been required. He had refrained from mentioning it to Clémence again. Only, discussing foreign trends with Gregorio quite recently, Tobie had asked the source of his news from the Germanies, which seemed suddenly to have become much more explicit. And Gregorio had explained that much of this sprang from the friendly offices of Julius, although the best reports might arrive unsolicited, from nameless merchants hoping one day to change masters. Gelis was an expert with these.
Well, thought Tobie, sitting now in Mistress Clémence’s parlour, there would be no more reports for a while from Julius. And perhaps, unless his guess was quite wrong, none from any other guiltily anonymous source, surprisingly au fait with Prussian matters. He remarked, ‘It is true, apparently, that Nicholas was paid to go to Tabriz. It can hardly have influenced him, with the wealth he already has. He has gone because of the woman.’
‘Perhaps,’ the nurse said. She was sewing. Since her under-maid Pasque had returned to their homeland in France, Clémence had performed most of the small tasks herself. She said, ‘Have you ever spoken to M. Govaerts about the realisation of the investments in Scotland?’
Sometimes, Mistress Clémence seemed to know a great deal too much. Tobie said, ‘No. Why?’
‘It is probably not worth your while. But it involved, I am told, a number of tedious and convoluted transactions. I would not have mentioned it, except that the indications are that M. de Fleury has no money at all, apart from the sum set aside for his family’s protection.’
‘The letter said nothing of that,’ Tobie said. He paused. ‘I would need to speak to Kathi herself.’ He paused again. The nurse knotted her thread and bit off the end. She had a fine set of teeth. Tobie said, ‘There was something else in the letter.’
Mistress Clémence sat up. She said, ‘If you wish to know where I stand, I am unwilling, as yet, to form a judgement. The lady of Berecrofts may be correct, and your friend must be left to repair his own character. In such cases, it is wise to appoint a sympathetic observer, and the Gräfin may prove to be such. Monseigneur’s own intentions, of course, may be less responsible. What does the young lady suggest?’
Tobie was silent. Every line of Kathi’s letter had been an implicit appeal to Gelis to take back her husband. What else she had written he was not as yet free to quote. Tobie said, ‘She understands that Gelis must decide for herself. I understand that whatever remorse Nicholas may feel, it need not prevent him from going out and committing the same crimes again. I don’t want to know whether he tried to kill Julius deliberately.’
‘Yes. I comprehend. I think,’ said Mistress Clémence, folding up her sewing and rising, ‘that neither of us can know what to do until you have consulted with the Lady. I shall wait, and follow your direction.’
‘You will?’ Tobie said, with marked incredulity.
‘Within limits,’ Mistress Clémence agreed.
Chapter 14
THAT WAS IN the third week in July. Before the next week had ended, couriers recently tumbled over the Alps were racing to Rome, to Florence, to Venice, relaying their news from the Burgundian frontier at Luxembourg. The war simmering ever since the fiasco at Trèves was about to break out between Duke Charles and the Emperor Frederick. And the precise trigger was a dispute between the two princes over Cologne. A Burgundian herald, arriving in Venice, petitioned the Doge and the Senate to permit the Duke to hire the services of the great condottiere Colleoni, a request which was refused. In the Ca’ Niccolò, Gregorio and his partners called