Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [199]
“Why not?” said Nicholas.
After the first shock (she was washing her hair) the encounter went off amazingly well, and she cooked and served them both an excellent meal. Her name was Margot. She was distinguished. She was not unintelligent. She followed all the bantering conversation except for the three occasions when Nicholas mentioned a place, or a person, or an object concerning the Charetty business. On those three occasions, he was satisfied she was at a loss, but expected to be.
Leaving afterwards, he said, “I like her very much. As the business grows, you’ll be able to house her better.”
Gregorio was walking slowly. He said, “I’m not sure if I like what you did.”
There was nothing much one could say. Nicholas continued to walk beside him.
Gregorio said, “I suppose there was no other way to prove it in time. Does it mean she would be under surveillance?”
“My God, who by?” said Nicholas. He grinned. “By Tommaso, perhaps: she’s a prize. But no. I told you I might make you an offer, and I’m making it. It’s concerned with a business of mine, not the Charetty one. That is, I take the risk but the Charetty company will share in the profits. The problem is, it has to operate in absolute secrecy. I have one associate, now in Italy, and I need a lawyer whose silence I can depend upon. If my enterprise fails, you’d still have your work with the demoiselle – unless, of course, it fails because of you. I don’t think it would. But people have been known to break trust.”
Gregorio didn’t answer at once. Then he said, “No one can say they won’t fall out with one master and take up with another. It happens. You may not like my ways when you get to know me better. I may not like your plans when I hear about them. But I will tell you this. I happen to find law more interesting than money. And a lawyer can’t stay long in practice if he passes on secrets. I might leave you, but I won’t betray what you are doing.”
“Well, that’s good,” said Nicholas. “Come to my room when you get back tonight, and I’ll tell you what you don’t know, and you’ll pack your boxes, most likely, and leave. Meanwhile I have to call in here and see Lorenzo Strozzi. It was a very good meal.”
“You must come again,” said the lawyer. He seemed to mean it.
Lorenzo Strozzi, who hadn’t spoken to any member of the Charetty household since the painful episode outside the Poorterslogie, tried to get the Ridder Straete gateman to say he was out, and then, angrily resigned, glared at Nicholas when he entered the office and took a seat without being asked. Equally without being asked, Nicholas told him why he had come.
By the third word, Lorenzo had ceased to interrupt. By the tenth, only horror remained in his expression. At the end he simply gazed at Nicholas and repeated, “Shipwrecked!”
“Off the coast of Brittany. So I am told by an informant. But rescued, and in good health. The only ostrich to be brought safely ashore. But the trouble is that it has been impounded until the claim for insurance has been settled, because of the counter-claims, you know, for wreckage and flotsam. A real difficulty. Very few people in Brittany know how to feed an ostrich.”
“Its keeper?” said Lorenzo. “It must have a keeper. In any case, surely someone has appealed? It’s for the Duke of Milan. An envoy. We should send an envoy.”
Nicholas said, “But do we want the Duke to know of our difficulty? Remember, it was the House of Medici who undertook to get the Duke an ostrich, and it was you who said …” He broke off. “They paid you for the ostrich and you’ve spent it?”
Lorenzo Strozzi stared at him. “What could I spend it on here?” he said bitterly. “I sent it to Florence for my mother to put aside for the business. The business Filippo and I are waiting to start up in Italy. With our own money. Not by marrying an old woman.”
“I don’t know anyone who has,” said Nicholas. “And if the lady were sensible,