Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [75]
Nicholas did not then know what he meant, but Tobie’s letter explained it. Studied in Nicholas’s own room, and shared with Sersanders, it contained the medical details that the writer had spared Robin’s father. It also contained an account, for Gelis’s husband, of the true circumstances of Robin’s arrival in Bruges, and all that Gelis had done, helped by Diniz, to warn her cousin, and the convoy from Nancy. Reading it, Sersanders had exclaimed, and then had the sense to go on talking until Nicholas recovered his sense of proportion. It was ridiculous that, for a moment, he had lost it. Gelis and he had lived apart for months, for years. Gelis had experienced far greater dangers than this. But now they had what they had, and he could not bear the idea of losing it.
After that, he and Sersanders reread the rest of the letter, and discussed it painfully but thoroughly, as it deserved. It was perhaps the most adult conversation Nicholas had ever had with Kathi’s brother. Presently, Sersanders left. Tobie had not referred to Adorne, save to say that Kathi’s uncle was determined to do everything possible for Robin.
Phemie’s letter, of course, had barely left Scotland when Tobie’s two missives were written. If it were otherwise, and Tobie had mentioned it here, Henry would now know the truth about Phemie. The thought turned Nicholas cold.
As it was, Henry’s words were a cruel distortion of what Tobie had said. Robin could not walk, that was true. But he had the use of part of his body, and was not mindless: his intellect was unimpaired. Tobie had said he had made himself Robin’s personal physician, and would remain so. He had said that Robin would need life-long attention, and Kathi’s presence was paramount. He had added that naturally all Robin’s friends would have some part to play, but that he did not think Robin could survive the next months without Nicholas.
Sersanders had looked at Nicholas then, frowning a little. ‘Of course, you did so much together. But now? Won’t he be jealous of us all?’
‘I don’t know what Tobie means,’ Nicholas said. ‘But of course I shall do all I can. Do you think he’ll come home?’ Tobie had said that he should.
‘It will break his father’s heart if he doesn’t,’ Sersanders had said.
After he left, Nicholas waited, thinking, for a space. Then he went and tapped on Henry’s door.
‘Yes?’ said Henry’s voice. ‘If it’s you, Uncle, I’m sleeping.’
Nicholas opened the door and closed it quietly. He said, ‘I’ve come to apologise. It was not your fault that you found business tedious. I should have let you ride off.’
‘Uncle!’ said Henry. The candlelight rested on the smooth, fair planes of his face and made his deepened eyes bright. ‘Is this remorse? Or fear of retribution to come? There but for the grace of God go I, a one-legged cripple unable to fuck?’
‘It doesn’t happen very often,’ Nicholas said. ‘Men usually die from wounds as bad as that, partly because they want to. Robin wanted to live.’
‘You sleep with his wife,’ Henry said. His lips sneered, contradicting his eyes.
Nicholas said, ‘No, I don’t. But you might think I would say that anyway. You have to judge for yourself.’
There was a pause. Henry lifted himself angrily in the pillows, his tangled hair shadowing his cheek. He said, ‘I want to know why I am here. You haven’t real proof that I attacked you. You couldn’t really harm me, although Grandfather thinks that you could. I’m really here as a hostage, amn’t I? You think if I’m here, you can force my grandfather to do what you want?’
There was an easy answer. Your grandfather, Henry, is one of the cleverest devils I know. If he thought as you do, you would not be here now.
Nicholas said, ‘It’s not very difficult. I can prove you attacked me. So your grandfather is right: whether you are physically with me or not, I can still dictate to him. To begin with, I thought I’d deprive