Checkmate - Dorothy Dunnett [255]
‘We know what happened,’ Richard said harshly.
‘I … see,’ said Lymond. After a moment, he said, ‘In that case, Jerott and Adam had better contain their anxiety somewhere else.’
Jerott, unfortunately, was stone cold sober. ‘I don’t propose to leave,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, Francis. But I warned you.’
‘I can’t say I remember it,’ Lymond said. ‘But stay if you wish. I am like the Swiss. I prefer not to fight on a Wednesday.’ He indicated, with a lifted hand, the available seats and sat down himself in the master chair, which had once belonged to the Dame de Doubtance.
Adam sat, and then Jerott. Pointedly, Austin and Lord Culter remained standing. To them, Lymond said gently, ‘It would be better if you seated yourselves. We are not going to shout at one another over this subject. You have heard, I take it, that my betrothal to Catherine d’Albon has ended. I expect you are concerned to know whether or not I am now going to proceed with dissolving my marriage to Philippa. The answer is, yes.’
‘And Philippa?’ Richard said. He remained standing. ‘What do you plan to do with Philippa?’
The quick, perceptive gaze moved from one stony face to the other. ‘If you know what happened here that evening, then Philippa herself must have told you.’
‘What happened?’ Jerott said sharply.
No one answered him.
Austin Grey said, ‘Philippa came to see me this morning, to break off all arrangements for our marriage.’
Adam Blacklock, watching the seated man, elegantly disposed under the old chair’s refurbished canopy, wondered if the others, like himself, could see that from his throat to his hair he had coloured. Then Lymond said, ‘I didn’t know. I’m sorry.’
Austin said, ‘She says she begged you to allow her to remain your wife, and you refused her. She says——’
‘No, by no means, Lord Allendale,’ Lymond said, his voice like a sawblade. And as the other man stopped, his eyes burning, Lymond said, his voice level once again, ‘You are both here, I assume, to protect a lady’s reputation. Kindly try to remember it. Since I doubt, at the moment, whether I can stomach any hysterical verbiage, suppose we simply say what we mean. Lord Grey wishes to marry my wife. I agree it would be an excellent thing for both parties. My wife, at the moment, may wish to remain married to me, but on Monday our union will be dissolved, and she will return directly to England and, I hope, eventual nuptials with the Grey family. I do not intend after Monday to see her again.’
Jerott said in a surprised voice, ‘Well, that’s all right?’ and looked round at Adam.
‘Is it?’ said Austin Grey.
Jerott reddened. ‘It’s hard luck on Philippa, naturally; and you may have to wait for your wedding, but it’s better, surely, than having her tied to Francis.’ He bent a fleeting stare of his magnificent dark eyes on the fair, cold face in the chair. ‘I’m sorry, Francis, but——’
‘… you warned me,’ Lymond agreed. He was looking at Austin and his brother. ‘But like the narration of those who preach to those who do not wish to hear, my story has failed to excite anyone. They don’t believe me.’
‘Well, they ought to,’ said Jerott. ‘Of course she’s in love with you, but that’s not surprising. You’ve been a figure like Jove to her ever since she was small. She’ll get over it. And who could possibly imagine you would want anything to do with her? Your brother knows that.’
He swung round on Richard. ‘She’s got sense, that girl; and too much backbone to push herself where she’s not wanted. Tell her it’s no good, and she’ll soon see the point.’
There was a disastrous silence.
Lymond stirred. ‘Virgil’s flude of eloquens,’ he said, examining his hands, ‘extinguishing the fyr, that in the bedstraw bredeth. Well done, Jerott.’
Annoyed, Jerott looked from Adam to Richard. The big-boned, good-tempered face looked back at him with weary patience.
‘That is the point,’ Culter said. ‘When she knew her love was hopeless, Philippa was content to marry Austin and leave her husband to Catherine. But now Francis is free of the St André marriage. And he has allowed Philippa to understand