Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [130]
Nicholas was not. Nicholas was endowed with the intense experiences of his previous visits; a practical acquaintance with individuals of every station; and an intuitive understanding of the young, including the young of the Castle. By now, also, he had matched himself against many men, and knew the extent of his ability. This was, however, the first time he had used it in partnership with someone of similar intellect, instead of in opposition. It was like getting drunk, to hear Adorne’s exposition, so like his own, and to then add his own, and realise that Adorne had been silenced.
Then Adorne said, ‘I have, of course, been fatally stupid. Why didn’t I ask you to come and work with me for the Duke?’
‘Because, quite rightly, you didn’t trust me,’ Nicholas said. ‘Anyway, as it happens, I did work for the Duke. I was fighting for him when he died.’
‘You despised him?’ Adorne’s enquiry was soft and a little blurred. He had discarded his chain and doublet and was resting, as Nicholas was, in shirt and hose. His hair was damp.
Nicholas pulled a face. ‘There’s little point in despising what you can’t alter. You try to cushion the consequences, that’s all.’
Adorne said, ‘And here?’
Nicholas said, ‘Here there is everything to fight for. You’ve just said it all. Thorough, hard-working people. Growing trade. Growing towns. A structure of law and of education and of government ready to build on. And a decent team of veteran councillors to keep the throne steady.’ He made a deliberate space. ‘The single threat is the one thing no one mentions.’
When Adorne spoke, his voice sounded flat. ‘You have heard the rumours.’
‘I have used my eyes,’ Nicholas said. ‘But no one will trust me yet with the truth. You have been to the Castle. You have had a chance to compare what you found when you last came, and now. There has been a change in the King and his family. I think Mar is sick. I think the others share in the affliction, and that it is not a disease, but something hereditary. Their father stabbed a nobleman to death in a quarrel—a king, a man at other times perfectly sane. Your friend and their relative the Archbishop Patrick is said to be mad. All of them are volatile beyond reason. If we are to make any design for the future, I need to know what is wrong. Do you, sir?’
Adorne rose and walked to the window. The panes were dark but outside, Nicholas knew, the stair-lanterns would be glimmering now on either side of the causeway that led up to the Castle, and there would be men and women passing up and down and pausing to chat and call to one another, while children who should be in bed were leaping the common gutter and playing hopping games on the flags. Adorne turned. ‘They haven’t trusted me either, but Saunders has seen what you have, and I was concerned enough to ask Dr Andreas.’
‘And?’ Nicholas said.
Adorne came back and sat down. ‘There is a certain hereditary ailment. The symptoms—a red flush, some unexplained pains, other signs—could be those of this condition, which affects the mind and the temper. It is sometimes mild, and sometimes intermittent. Sometimes it simply becomes worse. And it cannot be cured.’
‘There are five of them,’ Nicholas said. He could hear the horror in his own voice. ‘Two sisters, three brothers. And if these were debarred from the throne, the children might also be unfit to follow?’
Adorne said, ‘Nicholas. There is a fractiousness in the Stewart family, but it is not certain that this is the cause. It is feared, certainly, which is why it is not spoken about. But even if John of Mar is afflicted, your Sandy may be luckier. And if the lady Margaret is wild, her sister Mary is not.’
‘And the King?’ Nicholas said.
‘He is wilful,’ Adorne said. ‘But,