Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [181]
She stopped.
‘So were we wrong?’ Tobie said. He thought that no one but Kathi, in all the discomfort and anguish of an over-long pregnancy, would be addressing herself to the emotional problems of a contrary bastard with a penchant for numbers.
‘No, you were right; but there were repercussions. While we were spying on Anna, she was experiencing them. Thibault sent a message to Caffa, to Nicholas. Anna has written to tell me what happened.’
‘Oh,’ said Tobie. His mind performed a lightning review, partnered heavily by his stomach. He said, ‘It sounds as if we shouldn’t have gone to Montello. I thought it was harmless.’
‘Of course you had to go,’ Kathi said. ‘And Anna thought it was harmless, or she wouldn’t have told me in the first place. That’s why she’s upset about Nicholas. She doesn’t even say what his grandfather wrote. She just says it was all a mistake, and she wants Gelis to come. She sounds frightened.’
‘Of Nicholas?’ Tobie said. Damn the man. Damn the man and his immature appetites. One should settle down some time.
Kathi looked at him. ‘You expect Nicholas to live like a monk? But no, not afraid of him, but for him. Whatever the letter said, Nicholas took it badly. Anna says he locked himself into his room.’
‘With a bottle,’ said Tobie uneasily.
‘She says she broke into his chamber, it worried her so. His brazier was reeking with drugs.’
They looked at one another. Tobie swore, and forgot to apologise.
Kathi said, ‘From all you say of the vicomte, I’m sure there was nothing unkind in his letter. It was just the fact that it had arrived, and too late.’
‘So should we tell Gelis?’ Tobie said. He didn’t suggest Gelis should join Anna and Julius and Nicholas and whatever Nicholas was burning on his brazier. He agreed, on the whole, that Nicholas should be expected to reconstitute himself without help. It didn’t rule out temporary help, unless it resigned.
‘No,’ said Kathi. ‘But I think we should tell Gelis not to try to investigate any more. No matter who Anna is, she is good for Nicholas, and we shouldn’t discredit her. And equally, Gelis should break off the search for this nun Thibault mentioned. The best news for Nicholas would be final proof that he was born outside marriage. It is virtually proved. We should leave it.’
‘I agree,’ Tobie said. He spoke slowly, for he was not sure if he meant it.
She said suddenly, ‘But still, I don’t like it. Why isn’t the Patriarch helping? Why should Anna have to deal with all this alone?’
Damn the man indeed. Tobie said carelessly, ‘No, I don’t like it either, but Anna’s better at this than the Patriarch. She can manage Nicholas. And it won’t be for long. Julius will be there in the spring. He and Anna will leave, and Nicholas will settle down and become Khan of Caffa. He might even discover his gold. No one mentions the gold?’
‘Don’t cheer me up,’ Kathi said.
‘All right, I won’t,’ Tobie said. ‘When are you planning to give birth? June’s a nice month.’
DR ANDREAS OF VESALIA, arriving in the same month of January, hired some horses at Leith and, chatting all the way, as was his wont, presented himself at the Berecrofts house, once the Banco di Niccolò, in the Canongate. By then, he was not surprised to find the door at the stairhead wide open, and the inner rooms packed with the rosy faces and thick, fancy headgear of merchants, accompanied by their chirruping wives. Among the many faces he knew was that of the man of the house, Robin of Berecrofts, his fair hair dark with sweat, his eyes brilliant. He called Dr Andreas’s name, and lifted over a cup.
‘Your heir is born?’ Dr Andreas cried. Across the room, he glimpsed the scarlet face, matching his robe, of his fellow physician Tobias. Tobie waved. From the insouciant nature of the wave, Dr Andreas