Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [410]
Jordan, coming over to kiss her, had a little air of soldierly brashness that degenerated, for a moment, with his embrace, and then reasserted itself. It seemed mostly genuine. Nicholas looked extraordinarily tired, but spoke and acted as he always did. He had a bruise on his face. He said, ‘You’ve probably heard all the news. Could Jordan go and get himself dinner? I’ve had all the refreshments, and he’s had all the hard work in the antechambers. And we could both do with some sleep.’
It was said for Jordan’s sake. She knew that it would be a long time before the day would be over for Nicholas. He would have to go to the King.
Jordan went, and Nicholas sat. They were alone. The fire flickered. Then he put his face in his hands.
His chair was not very near. He had taken the first one he saw. She didn’t rise and cross over, or move. She didn’t speak for a long time. Then she said, ‘What did Avandale say? And the others?’ She didn’t care what they said. She was only reminding him that soon, someone would come; and that he had to continue to think, and to act, to give the sacrifice meaning.
He said, ‘Avandale?’ and took his hands down. His eyes, large and deep and heavily lidded, were dry as sand. He said, ‘You can perhaps imagine. As a man, he regrets Adorne’s murder, of course. But really, nothing more opportune could have happened, and the world is to hear of it at once. How the King offered fraternal friendship to Albany, and his emissary was done to death on his way to the meeting. Or put even better, how his envoy gave up his life to deter Albany’s men from committing sacrilege.’
‘It is what happened,’ she said. ‘We feel bitter, I think, because a friend’s death can be turned to advantage, and this seems to detract from the tragedy. But what would Anselm have wanted? He had chosen a King. He would surely want to serve him in death as well as life? And it also allows us to praise him. Think what he was.’
‘Oh, we have done that,’ Nicholas said. ‘I can tell you precisely all that he was, and which factions will be asked to respond to his murder with horror. He was the envoy of the little Duchess of Burgundy to Scotland, and had been her father’s emissary to Poland. His daughter served the English King’s mother; his wife was honoured by the English King’s sister. He was a friend of Caxton, a patron of architects, music and art. He and his family were judges and councillors to the Dukes of Burgundy, and related to the Doges of Genoa. He was a merchant trader, and Conservator of the Scots Privileges in Bruges. He was burgomaster of Bruges. He was a champion jouster and a leader in war, but also a man of devout faith. He went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was welcome in Rome. He beautified his family’s Jerusalemkerk, and was patron of hospices, almshouses, churches. He was a Knight of the Sword, of Jerusalem, of the Unicorn. He was a man whose death will perform a small service, but whose life would have ennobled a country.’
‘Then others must do it,’ she said.
There was another silence. Then he said, his voice closer to normal, ‘Of course, we must talk, you and I. But not now. Sweetheart, I’d better eat, too. And wash the dirt away. And find some—’
‘There are clothes ready laid out,’ she said, when he hesitated. He and Adorne had been robbed of everything, Tobie had told her. Everything he wore had been borrowed.
He wore a ring on his right hand. She had never seen it before.
His eyes followed hers, and for a moment she thought he would cover it. Then he lifted his hand, and let her see it. He said, ‘Adorne left it with the Prioress Euphemia. He had willed it to her half-brother thirteen years ago,