Checkmate - Dorothy Dunnett [146]
‘He is in Paris also,’ Austin said. ‘A little hurt, but quickly recovering. Arthur is with him. Philippa … why … Kate has been expecting you.’
‘Yes. Well, the Queen won’t release me until after the wedding,’ said Philippa with absolute candour. ‘How long are you going to be here?’
Austin, who had also been handed a cup of wine but was not drinking it, looked at Francis Crawford, who was. Lymond said, ‘We haven’t decided yet. I can’t make up my mind what to ransom him for.’
Philippa stared at him. ‘Money,’ she said, ‘is the usual thing. What have you done with Lord Grey?’
‘Oh,’ said Lymond. ‘Lord Grey is half-way up the ladder from grower to buyer, and is remaining in wraps till the market settles. The Crown presented him to Piero Strozzi.’
‘And?’ said Philippa Somerville. She sat down. She felt very, very happy.
Lymond sat himself also. ‘It took two lawyers, a cashier and the Lieutenant-Criminel de Robe-Courte before even Lord Grey could grasp the pattern,’ he remarked cheerfully. ‘Actually, Marshal Strozzi fixed his lordship’s ransom at seven thousand crowns and Lord Grey reduced it by haggling to four thousand and had nearly reached an agreement when the Queen of England was moved to send him a noble message of personal love and encouragement, upon which Strozzi added ten thousand crowns to the asking-price. Willie Grey was still producing bouillons over that when he found himself being led out of the door. Strozzi had sold him as a going concern to the comte de la Rochefoucauld’s brother, who wanted him to exchange for the comte de la Rochefoucauld, who had been a prisoner of the English since Saint-Quentin. Are you with me, or are you merely nervous in case we are going to be late for our appointment?’
‘I am, unfortunately, with you,’ said Philippa.
‘I told you it was complicated. Well, the comte de la Rochefoucauld was an unsatisfactory prisoner. He tried to escape. He said he was dying. So to make sure of his money, the Count’s captors didn’t wait for Lord Grey, but sold him back to his own side at once for a ransom of thirty thousand écus. He is here in Paris. Lord Grey is still here as his prisoner. And the family want at least twenty-four thousand écus to go towards the high costs of salvage. Are you ready? It’s raining.’
‘Look outside,’ Philippa said, ‘and you will see that the Cardinal of Lorraine has sent his second-string coach for the survivor of Calais to ride in. You don’t look very festive, except for that vulgar affair on your shoulders. Tartar barter, I take it? And under it?’
Lying on the rich, sober cloth of his doublet was the exquisite thing she had referred to: a golden chain of linked plaques, each one thick with eastern jewels and enamel. And under it was the black cross-sash, she realized, of his Order: the St Michael, the most coveted of all French distinctions.
‘The wages,’ said Lymond, ‘of insufferable irregularities. The other is my obsidional crown of grass. The clothes are my own. Tant de payis, tant’ de Guises. I chose a tactful feuille-morte because the Duke will almost certainly be attired in white and gold velvet and diamonds. Like North Rona: scant of ony religone, but abundant of corne. Who in God’s name do these rubies belong to?’
‘You. But you wouldn’t suit them,’ said Philippa. ‘Ffarewell Carboncle chosen chief. It’s my husband-hunting equipment. What about you?’
‘I don’t hunt husbands,’ said Lymond, getting up. ‘It’s the other way about.’ He stood for a moment, looking at her. ‘Has it been very bad?’ he said unexpectedly. ‘Calais ought to be French. Someone was bound to take it, sooner or later. But you shouldn’t have had to watch the rejoicing. I’m sorry.’
He was the only person who had thought of it. Philippa, her eyes very bright, said, ‘I didn’t enjoy it. But at least there wasn’t much slaughter.’
‘No,’ said Austin Grey bitterly. ‘We all surrendered.’
Lymond turned. ‘There may be some issues worth being martyred for, but I doubt if the Staple at Calais is one of them. However. Suppose, Philippa my child, you bring Lord Allendale a little English