Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [286]
Nicholas turned. Kathi rose to her feet as he faced her. This time, what passed between them was not the single splinter of joy between friends. It was a flicker somewhere in his mind that began in what had been a deliberate vacuum and passed through growing devastation to full, mortal comprehension. Kathi saw the light leave his eyes as he realised, first, what she might know; and then what his prevarication just now must have betrayed to her. His gaze rested on hers, grey and unseeing; then he returned it to Anselm Adorne.
‘The quarrel is mine: I shall settle it. The issue for you, surely, is the handling of David de Salmeton. He will first try to kill me and mine, but Kathi and Robin are also in danger.’ Here, warned perhaps by the atmosphere, he interrupted himself. ‘What? Something is wrong?’
‘It depends,’ said Anselm Adorne, ‘on what reliance you place on your army. Katelijne’s husband has joined it, feeling bound in conscience to fight for Duke Charles. He is in your Captain Astorre’s camp at Nancy. And Tobias your doctor is with him.’
The magistrate’s flick of the lash. The practised face of the grown man, repelling it. Nicholas said, ‘Astorre is good company round a camp fire. They may not have much to do, Tobie and Robin, but they will enjoy it.’
‘I am less certain than you,’ Adorne said, ‘that the army of Duke Charles will be idle. And if the fighting continues we must hope, must we not, that your band is well equipped and well led and well funded, and that this family does not suffer, yet again, because of you.’ He stopped, and started again. ‘Nevertheless, as you say, some plans must be made, and it will be convenient if you are here to make them. A room has been prepared, and you will remain with me until we hear of de Salmeton’s arrival.’
There was a pensive silence. Nicholas de Fleury said, ‘I follow your reasoning. But the Bank in Spangnaerts Street may expect me.’
Adorne’s eyebrows rose. ‘Perhaps they would welcome you: I do not know. My stipulation is that you do not rejoin your former business. They will be told where you are. If they wish, Master Diniz or Father Moriz may visit you. But I do not wish it generally known that you are in Bruges.’
‘I see,’ the other said. ‘And what about the new Conservator, Andro Wodman? Is he to help with the planning?’
‘He is staying here. It would appear sensible. Do you have some objection?’ Adorne said. ‘He preserved your son from de Salmeton in Scotland.’
‘But he let de Salmeton go. Wodman used to serve Jordan de Ribérac, who has also threatened my son.’
‘Wodman used to be an Archer in the service of France,’ Adorne said. ‘He is no longer with France or de Ribérac. He has joined my nephew as a dealer and merchant in Scotland, and I have found his conduct impeccable.’
‘I don’t trust him either,’ said Kathi. She had not said as much outright before. She had tried to reassure Gelis, even while she felt that Gelis shared the same doubts. She had hoped to avoid this open difference with her uncle, but she knew too much about Jordan, vicomte de Ribérac, whose hatred had haunted Nicholas all his life. Reared in Scotland, established in high mercantile circles in France, de Ribérac had always been ruthless to the apprentice born of his son’s wife.
Wodman had served the King of France and the vicomte de Ribérac. He might still be serving both.
Anselm Adorne said, ‘I am sorry to hear that, Katelijne. I should be even more sorry to hear you mention your misgivings outside this room.’
‘She is your niece. She could be right,’ Nicholas said. He was still standing.
Afterwards, Kathi thought that it was his very obstinacy, underlining Adorne’s own, that brought her uncle to his decision. He said, ‘Very well. Suppose we put it to the test. I shall ask