Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [248]
‘But Nicholas could,’ Anna said. She stared at him, her brows lined. ‘The jewels! Why did Nicholas give us the jewels? You must take the rest back.’
Julius laughed. ‘He gave us the jewels because he didn’t want Father Ludovico to waste them. They’re going to finance the new business: you know that. Anyway, Acciajuoli says Father Ludovico doesn’t want to get out. It suits him to wait, collecting news of what’s happening in the south and keeping a Latin presence in Moscow. If Zoe wants her Italian craftsmen, she’s going to have to let them have their own chaplains. And if there’s a Latin community, it’s the Patriarch’s job to supervise it.’ He reflected, smiling. ‘He’s a crafty old devil.’
‘No doubt,’ Anna said. Her colour had become extraordinarily high. She added, ‘He has no right to keep Nicholas prisoner. Take the jewels back. I want Nicholas with us at Novgorod. If he isn’t with us, I am not going.’
It was the worst quarrel — the only quarrel — that Julius had ever had with his beautiful wife. It was brief, and her voice was never once raised. At the end of it, he rode off with the jewels, and a day later returned, tight-lipped, and threw them before her. ‘Nicholas sent them back, with a note. They are for the business. The Grand Duke won’t release him or the Patriarch, whether they pay their debts or not. We are to go to Novgorod, and set up an office, and report back. He will help all he can. He may be free by then.’
‘No,’ she said.
‘Then I’ll go without you,’ said Julius. ‘And you can waste time in Moscow by yourself.’
Then she had turned. ‘Does money matter more than I do?’
He shook his head. ‘Anna, of course not. But what can you do, what can I do in Moscow? Nicholas is under restraint. They won’t let him out. Where is the harm in using the time to some purpose?’
She said, ‘If we’re going home, we have to start while it’s winter.’ She broke off. She said, ‘We’re not going home, are we? Because Nicholas can’t travel, and you won’t abandon him, the snows will melt before we could leave.’
‘I was trying to tell you,’ said Julius. ‘We might as well go to Novgorod. And report back to Nicholas. And hope he is free soon after that. Then we can go. You will see Bonne by autumn.’
She came to him then, not wild, but sweetly tender and sad, and he and she made their peace. Thinking about it all later, Julius had to admit to being perplexed by her variable moods. Unless, of course — he sat up with shock — unless, of course, she was with child. His child. A son. An heir. A real dynastic marriage. He remained for a while in a state of half-serious, pleased contemplation; and felt a little ashamed, because he did not care much for Bonne.
Very soon after that, as he had hoped, he and Anna joined the fleet of sledges that called at their door and were on their way, in convoy, to Novgorod. They would be back in Moscow, he hoped, in a month.
A week later, the elderly Florentine from the Morea called on the Patriarch of Antioch in his apartment in the Troitsa monastery, and told him that he and his companion were free.
‘The Archimandrite has given his permission?’ Father Ludovico exclaimed. ‘The Grand Duke is agreeable? The soldiers of the garrison have been informed? What a pity that they could not all have done so seven days ago, when the party was leaving for Novgorod.’
‘One could, I suppose, overtake them?’ Nicholai de’ Acciajuoli said. ‘If that were Signor Niccolò’s preference. But our eminent friend from Bologna has serious plans to discuss with him, and the Grand Duchess herself has desired him to remain in Moscow. What am I to tell her?’
‘That I am honoured, of course, and shall remain,’ Nicholas said. ‘What more could a man want than this?’
HE DID NOT MEAN IT, of course. But he was conscious,