Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [145]
‘I am afraid,’ Gelis said, ‘both were acts of a mischief-maker known to us all. No. If you wish my lord to join us, I have no objection.’
Colquhoun touched her and left. Avandale said, ‘Who was the mischief-maker? The gentleman we discussed?’
‘Yes,’ said Gelis.
‘I see.’ The short, elegant Chancellor watched the door. ‘He is a formidable figure, Jordan de St Pol. I have seen men cringe before him.’
‘Not everyone,’ Gelis said. ‘Even women have been known to hold their own, sometimes.’
‘Yourself, naturally. And, of course, the indomitable Erskine. I was sorry to hear of the loss of her son. But Cuthilgurdy had already been granted elsewhere.’
The words were perfectly casual. It wasn’t a test. He wasn’t even looking at her as he spoke. Gelis made a great effort and kept her voice casual, too. ‘Bel? We were grieved as well. I never knew which branch of the Erskines she belonged to.’
‘I can’t remember. Not, obviously, the main line. Her people all died out years ago, and her husband hardly survived the birth of their son. It seems hard that his name now dies, too.’
‘Yes,’ said Gelis. Then the door opened and the lady of Luss made an entrance, with Jordan de St Pol.
The supper that followed was profuse, as befitted a household entertaining the Chancellor. With an equal degree of stately aplomb, Jordan de St Pol ignored the place he had been given and seated himself beside Gelis. ‘So,’ he explained, ‘that we may treat one another with our usual courtesy. She who loves peril, into peril shall she fall. Regard the noble Andrew, scion of kings. He attempts the duck: it is a shade too sweet. The plovers? Insufficiently sauced. I had the pleasure, once, of being entertained at one of his banquets and found it hard to know what tribute to bring.’
‘Your presence, I am sure, was sufficient reward,’ Gelis said. The duck was too sweet.
‘It was hard, certainly, to excel. But I went to the limits of refinement. I brought him a gift of the first migrating lark,’ St Pol said. His chins shone.
‘Was it a success?’
‘I suppose so. He ate it. I always wondered,’ said the fat man, ‘what you found interesting in the young Claes. Your beauty, of course, should receive its due tribute, as should his manlier qualities; but what else?’
Pears in crust had arrived, with roast veal. ‘What a question!’ said Gelis. ‘His restraint, perhaps? Although provoked, he does not always retaliate. And whatever appetites he may have, he lacks the vice of real greed. Given your lark, he would not have eaten it.’
‘Why, no. He would have tried to make it into a friend. This perpetual desire to be loved. You are wrong. He is greedy, and that is the form of his greed. The soul is a widow who has lost her husband, they say. He yearns for heaven on earth.’
‘Then he is not alone,’ Gelis said. ‘Tell me something. Why did David Simpson come to see you?’
‘You feel I have attacked you?’ he said. ‘I hoped, I suppose, that you would be stirred to joust on your husband’s behalf, but I see that you wish to disengage. Very well. Master Simpson wished to make mischief, through me. I have been forced to point out, for the last time, that my plans are not his, that he has no means to persuade me to make them so, and that if he attempts to associate with me again, I shall be forced to have him removed.’
‘Thank you,’ she said. Beside her, Lord Avandale continued politely to present her with his back.
‘My dear girl,’ said Fat Father Jordan. ‘My dear girl, you mistake me. If I remove him, it is only because he is obstructing my view. Why look! Pigs’ teats in milk. May I offer you one?’
SHE SET OFF next morning, and was back in her house in two days.
All was well. Jodi was safe, and Kathi and Robin and their family. Only Nicholas was absent, having departed on a tour of the Borders with a large group of armed men, led by Albany.
Chapter 17
To be a lord but maner or but micht
It is a scorne to euery mannis sicht.
WARDEN’S EXCURSIONS WITH Sandy Albany had much in common with the peregrinations of