Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [120]
His friends kept calling for one of his specialities, which was Olympe, the lady who ran the town brothel, but he resisted. This was for the children, who were in a circle by now, holding on to one another and shrieking. He imitated anyone they wanted, excluding present company and their mothers and fathers. He had been beaten up before. He kept Gelis, too, in the circle with him, and made her his partner. Her poor, doughy face blazed with excitement.
It was Adorne who brought it to a close, calling his family and waiting, too, to catch the entertainer’s eye. He said, “You won’t forget, my friend Claes, that you have letters to take to Messer Arnolfini.”
He waited while the youth skated over, his arm round the child, and a crowd of disappointed youngsters trailing after. The young van Borselen woman, who had stood beside him in silence awaiting her sister, said nothing. The youth arrived. The child Gelis, her brows drawn together, said, “I want to go on.”
Katelina van Borselen said, “I’m sure you do, but you mustn’t exhaust your escort. He has to keep his energy for the Carnival tomorrow, when he has older ladies to entertain.”
The wound, made pliant by the heat in his skin, had opened again, and Claes stopped it with his kerchief while, sitting, he began to take off his skates with one hand. Sersanders came to help him, talking over his shoulder.
“Ah, the Carnival. You’ll never guess which fine ladies Claes is going to spend the Carnival with. Shall I tell them?”
“Come, Gelis,” said the van Borselen girl.
“Who?” said Gelis.
Anselm Sersanders looked up. “Why, Mathilde and Catherine, Felix de Charetty’s young sisters. Felix has just decreed it. Won’t they all enjoy themselves?”
Gelis said, “I want to go, too.”
Her sister Katelina said, “You are going. You’re going with Charles.”
“I’m going with this man,” said Gelis.
Claes, who was having extreme trouble with one skate, covered his face with his kerchief.
Katelina said, “But he’s –” and stopped. She said, “But what will happen to Charles, if he has no friends to go with? That would be unkind.”
“He’ll have Father Dieric and Meester Lievin,” said her sister. “And, you know very well, many other children. I wish to go with someone older.”
It was impossible to spend any longer over his skate. Claes looked up and, fatally, met the frowning gaze of Katelina van Borselen. He turned to the fat child and said, “Well, demoiselle: why not go with your charming sister?”
The charming sister flushed, and he rather regretted it. Of course, she would already have an assignment. Or, if not, her parents would have made sure that a number of suitable gentlemen would cross her path tomorrow evening. She was nineteen, and unmarried.
An older, wiser head resolved the situation. Anselm Adorne said, “Perhaps it would meet the case if the demoiselle de Charetty were to allow her two daughters to join my family party tomorrow evening. Our friend Claes would be welcome as additional escort.”
“– But –” said the fat child.
“– And of course, so would the young demoiselle, if she cared to leave her cousin’s son Charles for a spell.”
Gelis said, “I’m going with him.”
Claes rocked obligingly to the prodding figure and came upright on his haunches, and then to his feet. He said to Anselm Adorne, “It is kind of you. The demoiselle de Charetty will be most grateful, and indeed so shall I. What time …?”
“Come this way,” said the lord of the Hôtel Jerusalem. “Jan will take the children home. Demoiselle, you will forgive me …?”
Katelina van Borselen forgave him, staring in a vexed way at Claes.
“I wished,” said Anselm Adorne, walking away, “to mention, since you were speaking of arms,