Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [294]
Someone murmured: a man. The boy said, ‘Well, I might forget. Who was it from?’
Murmur, murmur. Even close to the door, she couldn’t make out the man’s voice. People passed up on the street, their feet squelching, and someone ran up the stairs over her head, dislodging cold puddle water which rapped on her hood. She bent down, as if looking for something.
Jamie said, ‘I don’t say who it is from. I say that King Edward has sent to France, and offered to fetch my uncle of Albany to England. And promised he would lead—’
Murmur. ‘—help to lead the King’s army to Scotland. Is that true?’ said the boy. ‘… Well, of course, but she’ll ask. You ought to put it in writing. Get my uncle to write. When will I …’
‘Can I help you, hen?’ someone said from the stair. Kathi looked up. Tom Yare’s wife, Margaret Hume.
Kathi began, ‘I was just going to …’ but it was too late. The door beside her quietly opened, and the man upon whom she had been eavesdropping was standing there, studying her.
She knew him. His name was Rob Grey, and he was a butcher, with a house in the same part of the Canongate as Hector Meldrum and Robin’s father and family. He said, ‘Mistress Katelinje!’ She could see Jamie, standing rigid behind him.
Kathi smiled. ‘How are you? I’m sorry to shout in the street, but I’m astray. Margaret was just going to tell me where to find Hector Meldrum, and I think I remember. Down there?’
The man was smiling in return. ‘In the cellar. It’s a coney-warren, for sure. Is he in? Come back if he isn’t, and share our ale. Jamie and I were just preparing a rare surprise for the Princess’s Yule table. Are ye suited yourself in that regard?’
‘Too well,’ she said. ‘I’ve just seen Henry Cant and I’m penniless. But I’ll come back for the ale, if Hector’s out.’
He wasn’t, of course. She had just visited him. She waved goodbye to Margaret and tapped on the cellar door, prancing in when it opened, before the macer could speak. She wished she had taken lessons from the King’s Master Spyar, except that the King had dismissed him, along with his personal Guard, when Albany left.
Which would seem to have been a mistake.
PATHETICALLY, IT WAS only after she was safe that she started to shiver. Hector Meldrum actually walked with her down to the Canongate, when she said she had to go there. He left her at her own house, but she crossed instead to the private stairs of what even Hector called the Floory Land. She hoped her uncle was there. At the very least, she wanted to pass on what she knew quickly, to as many reliable people as possible. She was waiting in the parlour for her uncle when Nicholas opened the door and shut it so quietly and fast that it sighed.
He said, ‘I saw you from the window. It’s all right. Whoever he is, we’ll kill him for you.’ Then she was in his arms, her teeth chattering, and he went on murmuring absently, holding her fondly and close like a warmly comatose bear with a cub. When Adorne came in, she made no effort to break away, nor did Nicholas; he simply went on talking comfortably over her head. ‘Could you possibly pour some of that stuff over there and bring it to her? And maybe keep the others away for a moment?’
Adorne did as he was asked without a word. It was only as Nicholas freed her to take the cup from him that she saw the concern on her uncle’s face. Then she said shakily, ‘I’m sorry. Listen. Listen. I’ve just overheard Jamie Boyd being given a message to take to his mother. The English are offering Sandy an army to help invade Scotland. The English. The English. The English.’
‘What frightened