Checkmate - Dorothy Dunnett [257]
‘I thought you would realize it sooner or later,’ Lymond said. ‘Richard?’
‘Yes,’ Richard said. ‘I wonder if there exists any other man, even at this Court, who has to be restrained day and night to preserve a girl’s honour?’
‘’Tis not Anaxarchus but his sheath that you prod? The word even deserves a monument to itself. If Lord Allendale is returning, will he send your clothes back? Sybilla will long to know why.’
‘She knows,’ said Richard curtly. ‘I should like to go to my room.’
‘In a moment,’ Lymond said, rising. ‘Adam, you will stay please, and Jerott. Lord Allendale …’
The door opened on the usher he had rung for. ‘Take any of my horses you may need for Richard’s baggage.’ Lymond paused, the searching blue gaze on the younger man’s face. Then he said, ‘We’ve been much at odds, but mostly by accident. If … Philippa has lived her childish fantasies through me, she has a great deal that is more commendable to discover in you, and take pleasure in. I have a respect for her as great as yours, I should like you to believe.’ He paused again and said, not smiling, ‘I didn’t think you would fight for her. She is worth any sacrifice.’
Austin was very white. ‘That is what she said of you,’ he said. ‘That is why we are having to follow her like a felon. I am not proud of it. Are you?’
And a moment later, the door closed behind him.
‘And now …’ Lymond said, and turned to Richard.
Adam said crisply, ‘Francis. Archie is waiting to see you.’
‘Archie,’ said Lymond, ‘is a pessimist. Twice in two days would be too bloody demeaning. I have, Richard, some Scottish business to discuss with you. If this chair wouldn’t offend you, come and read these, if you please.’
The papers he handed Richard as he slowly sat down were in French: so much Adam could see.
He stayed where he was. Jerott, more forthright, got up and walked round to Lymond’s shoulder. And Lymond said, ‘Adam. I mean you, and later the Commissioners to see.’
And so they read the three scribbled pages together.
The first two missives began with the same words:
Tres haulte et tres excellente princesse, Marie, Royne d’Escosse, presente en personne …
‘It’s by the young Queen,’ Richard said. He turned it over and looked at the date. ‘Signed on the fourth, a fortnight ago, at Fontainebleau.’
‘They were all three signed by the Queen on the same day,’ Lymond said. ‘It was the Monday of Holy Week. Read them.’
So Richard turned it back and, his hands long-sightedly a little away from his face, held it so that Adam and Jerott could read it too.
Considerant la singulliere et parfaicte affection que les Roys de France ont tousjours eu en la protection et manutention du Royaume d’Escosse contre les Angloys … et encores plus le bon traictement qu’elle a eu et receu de la bonte du … tres excellent prince Henri, par le grace de Dieu, Roy de France …
‘It’s a bit overdone, isn’t it?’ Jerott said. ‘All this gratitude to Henry by the grace of God King of France? When he protected us from the English it was only because he bloody well couldn’t afford not to. However. What’s she giving him? A falcon? A parcel of stockings? A purseful of river pearls? A box of Aberdeen haddies for every month of his reign?’
Richard’s reading, swifter than his, had brought him to the end of the missive. But even then, he could not bring himself to lift his eyes. There was a pause. Then: ‘She is giving him Scotland,’ said Culter.
It was true. It was there, in line after line for them to read … advenant le cas quelle decedde sans hoirs procreez de son corps—que Dieu ne vueille—elle a donne et donne par ces presentes, par pure et libre donation … le royaulme d’Escosse … et telz droictz qui lui peuvent … appartenir au royaulme d’Angleterre.
… So that should the Queen die without heirs, she has decreed the King of France should receive in pure and free gift the Kingdom of Scotland, and its rights to the English throne.
Adam said, ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘Then read the second donation,’ said Lymond’s quiet voice behind