Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [288]
It was the latest of several ships he now possessed. He had given new names to them all. Ships did not have long lives, and there would never be another Ciaretti. Of his acquisitions, one was a converted Hanse fishing vessel, and two were useful Biscay-type trading ships he had picked up at a sale. His flagship, the Fleury, was the merchant vessel he had renounced when he gave everything up, and which Gelis had paid to recover. The Fleury mattered, because of that. This one mattered, because it bore Jordan’s name: the first public manifestation of the young Jordan de Fleury, not the old Jordan de St Pol.
Because of that, it was Jordan his son who was first on board, and Jordan who, once high on the poop, noticed his cousin Henry caught, vexed and impatient, in the press of people on shore. Since Christmas was close, and the Border fighting had slackened, men were coming back to their houses in Edinburgh. Returned to Kilmirren House with his grandfather and Simon, Henry came across now and then to see to his horses. There was a piece of St Pol land near Dunbar which offered good grazing, and removed the stud from the orbit of Simon, who disapproved of the venture. This information (of course) came from Julius via Sir James Liddell of Halkerston in the Mearns, who had a house in Dunbar. It was the only piece of information Liddell seemed to have supplied, in the long evenings Julius spent with him.
The crowd on the wharf were all friends, come to help Nicol celebrate his new vessel. Knowing what was expected, he had opened and stocked up a warehouse with ale, and something to eat with it, and in due course they all packed themselves in, and there were some mock speeches and a lot of coarse jokes. Nicholas, playing his part, assumed that Henry had departed in a cloud of malignancy; until he suddenly saw him outside, looking searchingly up at the ship. At its name. Of course, hell and damnation: at its name.
Nicholas started to leave. As he began to move from person to person, he saw that Gelis had reached the door and was already walking over to talk to her nephew. She spoke, and it looked as if Henry asked her a question. He looked superb, but not dangerous; not with Gelis. They went on talking. Nicholas, half-emerged, hesitated.
Gelis had seen him. She called across. ‘You know more about this than I do. I was telling Henry that he should try another sail with you all. But not in this weather.’
‘It’s a challenge,’ Nicholas said. She had spoken, thank God, as if she had never heard of the scene with Muriella. Nicholas, too, adopted a level that Henry would recognise: vaguely impatient but not at all unfriendly. He said, ‘Do you want to come on board and look? It’s roomier than you’d think.’
‘I’m sure,’ Henry said. ‘No, thank you. I hear you’ve been to Elcho. The nuns have reformed Muriella then, have they?’
Gelis stayed quiet. Nicholas said, ‘It was Bonne I was going to see. After the pike fishing,’ He didn’t look at Gelis.
Gelis said, ‘It isn’t fair. He’ll believe you.’ Magnificent Gelis.
Nicholas said, ‘Well, he ought to. It’s true.’
‘That you went to see Bonne?’ Henry said. ‘Or didn’t you?’ He was looking at Gelis, his expression somewhere between pity and contempt.
Nicholas said, ‘I didn’t really go to see Bonne. Or not especially. I was at the Lake of Menteith for the pike—’
‘So you say,’ Gelis said.
She staggered slightly as someone bumped into her. Unbelievably, it was Jordan. Incredibly, he was making for Henry, whom he had last met, in brutal circumstances, at Muriella’s house. He addressed Henry, regardless. ‘I told them you were here. Has he told you about the pike fishing?’
He had caught the word. Jordan was trying to do something, and Nicholas could only hope he knew what. He picked up his cue.
‘Nobody believes it,’ Nicholas said. He made it sour.
‘That’s because you explain it inadequately,’ Jordan said. Henry’s long lashes batted.
Jordan said, ‘Let me tell him.’
It didn’t take long. Nicholas hadn’t believed it himself when Rob Colville had first described the whole farce, and