Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [165]
‘Keep his place warm, until the rest of you make up your minds? No, thank you,’ said Gelis.
But, of course, it was what she was doing.
She stayed for three days, during which time she had an audience with the Duke, and Astorre took her round the battle positions. Afterwards, John remonstrated with his captain. ‘Yon was dangerous. She could have been killed.’
‘She wanted it. She’s a pretty woman. She’ll tell Nicholas, and he’ll maybe be tempted.’
‘She’ll tell the Duchess and Hugonet, more to the point, and maybe shame them into raising more money. You were talking to her about Cyprus.’
‘About Zacco’s son being dead,’ said Captain Astorre, his beard jutting. ‘I didn’t tell her about David de Salmeton. Mind you, I think Nicholas ought to know.’
‘Then tell him,’ John le Grant said. ‘If you know where he is.’ The old man and he scowled at each other and parted in perfect understanding. Riding back to his guns, John le Grant found himself thinking of Gelis in quite a different way from before. He wondered where she was now, stoically commuting, like the factor she had become; methodically tracing the routes between Neuss and Brussels and Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp.
In all the world, only her entourage could have revealed that her destination that day was quite different. Gelis van Borselen, semi-detached lady of Beltrees, was on her way to seek out her possible daughter-in-law, the young encloistered Fräulein called Bonne.
Only her entourage could have told, or a man far away in the East, sitting alone, and at last, hesitatingly, lifting a pendulum.
THE CONVENT, when she reached it, was not welcoming, but perseverance obtained her an interview with the Abbess. That firm-chinned lady, cantilevered in voile, refused to send for the Fräulein von Hanseyck until convinced, by the depth of her purse, that the eminent lady was as superior as she claimed to be. They were allowed fifteen minutes.
At the age of eight, Bonne had possessed handsome blue eyes and thick hair, but little else that was attractive. Time had improved her. Entering the room in her cap and plain gown, she made her greeting and sat with a mixture of demureness and grace at once reminiscent of Anna. There was a suggestion of feminine roundness that had not been there before, as well as a firmer mould to the face. Scanning the full lips, the large downcast eyes, the rippling dark hair with its stray glints of chestnut, Gelis was smitten with longing for a young person quite different: for the fresh-faced dimpled boy, not yet six, whom she had sent north to Scotland for safety. She said, smiling, ‘I had to come and see my son’s bride.’
The large eyes opened on hers, and turned to the Abbess. The Abbess said, ‘This, Bonne, is the lady of Beltrees from the Banco di Niccolò. I was not informed that you were to marry her son.’
‘It is too soon to be sure,’ said the girl. ‘Although, naturally, I should be pleased and honoured were it to be arranged. Is Jordan with you, my lady?’
Gelis gazed at her. ‘You knew of it? No. I sent him to Scotland, since I must travel so much for the Bank. He is not as old as you are, as perhaps you know.’
‘But he can ride a horse?’ the girl said. ‘Or if not, of course I could teach him.’
‘You like riding?’ Gelis said. ‘Where did you learn?’
‘The Graf my father had many hundreds of horses. Falcons also, and hounds. I can shoot with a crossbow. I have ridden since I was a baby.’
‘At your grandparents’, of course,’ Gelis said. ‘Where was that? Do you go there still, or are they both dead?’
The girl lowered her eyes, her brow clouded. The Abbess said, ‘They are in heaven. We pray for them, but the very house has gone now. Bonne has none but the Graf’s noble relatives left.’
‘And her mother in Caffa,’ Gelis said. ‘If I were the Gräfin, I don’t think I could have borne to leave such a dear maid behind me.’
‘But you sent your son to Scotland?’ said the girl. ‘I am sure that you love him as much — even more, if your marriage has ended. I am fortunate. I have stepfather Julius.’
‘We pray for him, too,’ said the Abbess. ‘He has