Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [164]
‘But it’s something,’ she said. And then, because it was in her mind, she added, ‘We have an infant marriage afoot. Concerning Jodi. Nicholas wants Jodi to marry Anna von Hanseyck’s young daughter.’
The white-fringed eyes opened wide. ‘The deil!’ said John le Grant. It sounded blank.
She said, ‘It makes sense for the future. Julius has asked Nicholas to join his part of the company.’
‘I dare say,’ John le Grant said. ‘Nicholas can’t afford, from what you say, to be choosy. But I wouldna throw your fortune into Julius’s lap until you’ve made a few enquiries. Ask Moriz.’
The German priest Moriz from Augsburg was also the Bank’s specialist in the mining and casting of metals. ‘I have,’ Gelis said. ‘I’ve also worked with Julius in Cologne. His credit is good. With the von Hanseyck connection, he could raise loans to start again anywhere.’
‘As you say,’ John agreed. ‘The Graf was well known and respected, although he didna leave as much, Moriz says, as you’d think. I believe Anna herself has no kin.’
Gelis was faintly amused. ‘She doesn’t need them. Doors open wherever she goes. The von Hanseycks are connected to everybody, whereas no one knows who Nicholas is. In terms of degree, it isn’t a bad marriage for Jodi. I was weighing it rather in terms of free choice. Childhood unions are common with princes, but merchants can usually wait.’
The engineer watched her in silence. Then he said, ‘Have you met the lassie? Bonne?’
She had, of course. She had lived in Cologne during the days of Julius’s earliest courtship, and the child had been eight. She said, ‘Recently, no. If you know where she is, Anna would be glad to hear she is well.’
‘I dare say,’ said John. ‘I’m a wee tate thrang just at present to call on her. Syne you should get back to the Duchess and Bruges. Tell Diniz you all guessed quite right, and the old man is keen to fight France, and not averse to signing up with the Bank, and that I’ll stay and load his balls till his old gun gives up and he drops.’ He sounded cross. He continued, ‘Tell me something. Why did ye put Nicholas through all that ye did?’
The old accusation. His eyes were a steady, raw blue; his lined skin, russet-brown, held the vague freckled marling of summer. His hair, dulled from its original red, was still at once belligerent and disarming. Even as she drew breath, she remembered how long Nicholas had known him, and how tired she was of avoiding that particular question. She looked him in the eyes and said, ‘I was afraid of him. Can you understand that?’
‘Yes. Did he know?’
She stared at him, conveying perhaps more than she meant, for he enlarged, uncharacteristically, on the question. ‘You learn about fear, in the army. You teach by challenging.’
She considered Nicholas, the eternal apprentice, thus elevated to the status of teacher. She shook her head. Untenable. No.
‘Have you never watched your son with his da?’ asked le Grant.
She had watched him. This is what a horse likes to eat. This is how a ship sails. Why don’t you sing this with me?
John le Grant was speaking again, irritability in his manner. ‘What right have I to talk? I’ve seen Nicholas de Fleury deaf and blind to the world for the sake of some toy he was making, and I was the fool who encouraged him. If you failed to notice your share in what became of him, I failed to see mine. But that doesna mean he should come back. Among us, we’ve made him a wrecker.’
She said, ‘Kathi thinks he must teach himself now. He has Anna.’
‘He has you and Kathi as well,’ John le Grant said. ‘Tell him the news. Answer his messages. A woman can do what a man