Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [276]
Of the man himself, she had seen nothing at close quarters since the day of the bodyguard Raffo’s death. He had lied his way out of that, and had since left them alone, being disinclined, Archie said, to risk the new business success he was working so hard to achieve. It was, therefore, all the more astonishing when David de Salmeton in person arrived one day at the grand Berecrofts house in the Canongate, had himself received in the parlour where Bel (how did he know?) was visiting Archie, and asked his host’s permission to convey some sorrowful news.
Left to himself, Archie would have denied the man entrance. It had been Bel, better acquainted with de Salmeton, who had counselled otherwise and who, hearing him now, sat herself down with some care. Sorrowful news. Being only human, she thought first of her son; of Claude and the children. Then, ashamed, she drove her logical mind to assess the areas of much greater risk which were also of import to Archie, chief among them being Kathi and Robin. Kathi and Robin, dear God, and the babies.
David de Salmeton said, ‘I speak, of course, of Nicholas de Fleury, who, you will have heard, is dead in Russia. His widow and son have yet to hear. Fortunately, there is a Scottish emissary leaving for Flanders. I hope to sail with him and enlighten the poor lady myself. A widow and a fatherless child. Is it not sad?’
‘How d’ye know?’ Archie had said. Robin’s father, the most courteous of men, had no time for miniature beauties with waving black hair and large eyes, who killed people.
‘Oh, everyone knows,’ said David de Salmeton. ‘And is it so surprising? The poor man had little to live for. But I digress. Time is short. I merely called, in case you had a word for the widow? Or young Kathi? It seemed to me that she and Nicholas were particularly close.’
‘We shall send our own messages,’ Archie said, ‘when we know the truth.’
Shortly after that, the visitor bowed himself out. Archie swore.
‘Oh, all of that,’ said Bel of Cuthilgurdy. ‘But do ye believe him?’
Archie pursed his lips. ‘It’s true that the King’s sending his uncle to Burgundy. Half-uncle. James, Earl of Buchan. Hearty James. He’s supposed to be advising Duke Charles to make peace with the Duke of the Tyrol. Him that’s married to the King’s aunt.’
‘Eleanor,’ Bel supplied helpfully. ‘Our King James is sending his uncle to mediate between Duke Charles and the Tyrol, while Duke Charles is busy invading Lorraine? It doesna sound like very intelligent planning.’
‘No,’ said Archie. ‘But that isn’t why de Salmeton came, is it? He just wanted us to know that Nicholas de Fleury is dead, and de Salmeton is off to harass his son and his widow.’ He paused. ‘I’ll need to go.’
‘No, you don’t,’ Jodi’s Aunty Bel said. ‘They’re well protected. We’ll send word. There’s a shipmaster I know. And forbye, there’s a man who’ll do more good nor you would.’
‘Who?’ Archie said.
‘Ah,’ said Bel. ‘That’d be telling.’
There was a moment’s silence. ‘You don’t believe this,’ Archie said. ‘You don’t believe it, do you?’
Bel heaved herself upright. ‘I don’t want to believe it,’ she said. ‘You could say that, right enough. And I don’t trust that little popinjay, that’s another thing. But most of all, I must say, when Nicholas de Fleury manages to get himself killed, I think you’d ken by the bang, not the squeak.’
THE SAME RUMOUR reached Bruges, and was duly noted, if not necessarily believed, in the counting-houses, the mansions, the kitchens, the council-rooms and the cellars once haunted by Nicholas de Fleury. He had been gone for three years, and the commerce of Bruges was no longer affected by his absence, any more than the Banco di Niccolò, which had so successfully reconstituted itself.
In the Charetty-Niccolò bureau in Spangnaerts Street, Gelis van Borselen heard the rumours and, with Diniz’s permission, called a meeting of all his chief partners, as once she had done in Venice. When