Caprice and Rondo - Dorothy Dunnett [316]
It caused Diniz, returning soaked from one such round, to burst out, as he had not done for years, against the horror and waste of siege warfare. It led Nicholas, unthinking, to set aside his own rules and try to explain the work of Fioravanti, so that John, engrossed, plunged into the talk. For a moment, the air was full, in the old way, with ideas and objections and counter-objections until Nicholas suddenly excused himself, and left.
Tobie had followed him out into the smothering snow, and across to the stables, where he had begun to talk to the horse-master. He showed no sign of particular stress; opening his stance as he spoke to include Tobie. Leaving, he walked down the lines, and Tobie walked with him. Tobie said, ‘You must be used to this cold.’
‘Cold with discipline, yes,’ Nicholas said. ‘Unregulated cold is more troublesome. I wanted to make rapturous noises about Clémence. She risked her life for Gelis in Ghent. You know how she cared for her and for Jodi, and kept me informed. I want you to separate so that I can marry her.’
‘From what I hear,’ Tobie said, ‘you are already devastatingly accommodated, although you don’t seem to appreciate it. What are you doing here? David de Salmeton has gone.’ They had come to the end of the building, and he stopped. A horse blew on his shoulder.
Nicholas said, ‘The King of Portugal has still to come.’ His eyes rested on Tobie’s face.
‘And you think he will bring Jordan de Ribérac,’ Tobie said. On the other man’s face, lightly bearded, was the ghost of the scar given by the vicomte de Ribérac to Claes vander Poele, born to the wife of his son and repudiated. Tobie said, ‘If he comes, will you kill him? He led the Vatachino. Kathi told us what Wodman said to you about that.’
Nicholas said, ‘That isn’t why I am here. Did you really think that it was?’
‘I don’t know,’ Tobie said. He hesitated, and then made up his mind. ‘Did Gelis tell you what … what Thibault de Fleury said of de Ribérac?’ Carefully, he had said neither your grandfather, nor your other grandfather.
His dilemma had been noted. ‘How difficult it all is,’ Nicholas remarked. Then he suddenly seemed to relent. ‘I should like to hear, some day, about Thibault de Fleury; but not perhaps now. I’m glad that you went. It can’t have been easy.’ He waited and then said, ‘But you want to say something?’ He looked patient rather than anxious.
‘Jordan de Ribérac threatened the Charetty family,’ Tobie said. ‘You were to be reared as an apprentice, or you and they would all suffer. Marian educated you, without de Ribérac realising it. She sent you to Lou-vain with her son, knowing that as Felix’s servant you would learn as much as he did. In the end, as we know, she defied him. That was when you were given your scar.’ The horse pushed at him, and he ignored it.
‘I see,’ Nicholas said.
‘I thought you should know,’ Tobie said. He paused. ‘Before we go back. Did you mean to kill Julius?’
Nicholas laid his hand on the prodding nose of the horse. ‘I regularly mean to kill Julius,’ he said. ‘I usually manage to restrain myself, but not then. I had been divining. I was not on very good terms with myself afterwards. But for that, I might have used force against Anna.’
‘But you didn’t,’ Tobie said curiously.
‘No. I didn’t try to kill her,’ Nicholas said. ‘I left it to others. I left her in Caffa, knowing that it was going to fall.’
‘Knowing?’ Tobie said.
‘Oh, yes. I spent some time and effort analysing what was going to happen to Caffa,’ Nicholas said.