Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [274]
At the finish, he sat for a moment, and then swallowed a lot of wine all at once. He said, “And how has Bruges taken that? Do they blame Nicholas?”
“Blame him!” said Julius. “He’s redeemed himself at last. You won’t remember. He never stood up to anyone. And now that he and the demoiselle …”
Gregorio said, rather quickly, “The merchants have come to accept the marriage as well. Nicholas has a good standing. Enough to do all he wants in the way of business.”
Tobie, without paying attention, was still looking at Julius, who could feel himself flushing. Tobie said, “I see. And what does he want to do? Has he told you yet?”
Julius said, “Well, it’s hardly a matter, yet, of Nicholas running the business. Once the alum sanction is through, I dare say we shall all be asked to help plan for the future. All I can tell you is that we might be raising two squadrons more for Astorre next season, now we have all the extra weapons and money for equipment. I suppose they’ll ask you to go back as his surgeon, if they haven’t already. The dyeshop will stay under the demoiselle, but the credit side, and the property, including things like Felix’s wine tavern, will be looked after by Gregorio and myself and perhaps expanded.”
“And Nicholas himself?” said Tobie.
Julius said, “Well, there’s the courier service. That’s getting well established, with a good team. He’ll run it mainly from Bruges, but do some of the riding himself between Bruges and Milan to keep in touch with the Milan side. I dare say he thinks you can help too, if you’re to be in Italy with Astorre.”
He stopped and looked at Gregorio, but Gregorio didn’t seem to want to add anything. Tobie said, “And that’s all he’s talked about? Nothing about ships, or setting up branches abroad, or going into trading in silk?”
“Ships!” said Julius.
Gregorio said, “No. Nothing about any of that. But of course, there’s been a lot to arrange and overhaul these last days. As Julius was saying, there hasn’t been a meeting yet to plan anything. The demoiselle probably wanted to wait until you were here. And the alum sanction had come through. I’ve certainly had the impression …” He hesitated.
“What?” said Tobie.
“That Nicholas is waiting for something,” said Gregorio.
“And you’re not worried?”
Julius said, “What about?”
“About the future of the business, of course,” the doctor said. He tore bits off his pheasant and put them all in his mouth with one hand, tidily. He said, “Felix was the nominal head. He’s gone. The demoiselle is the legal head. She’s a good, capable woman, but an affair this size is beyond her. Until the two daughters marry, who runs the Charetty company?”
Gregorio said, “I should have thought it was fairly obvious. The same people who together will be running the alum venture. The three of us, together with Nicholas. Except that Nicholas, being the demoiselle’s husband, has the strongest position.”
“He certainly couldn’t do it without us,” said Julius.
“Couldn’t he?” said Tobie. “I’ve been thinking of all I’ve seen of friend Nicholas. I listened to the demoiselle talking about the business today. I don’t think that Nicholas needs us to run anything. He needs us to help him, that’s all. Whether we like it or not, Nicholas is the master of the Charetty company. So how does that strike you? Is he the sort of person you want to work under?”
It was exactly what had been worrying Julius. He said slowly, “I know what you mean. He’s young.”
Tobie said, “He’s just under twenty years old. That’s up to ten years younger than the oldest of us. It means that, gifted as he is, he has no experience.”
“We can supply that,” said Gregorio. He was watching Tobie closely.
“And he’ll accept it,” said Tobie. “He’s good at taking advice. And he’s good at management. He’s won the goodwill of everyone who has ever beaten him, by being cheerful, placid, long-suffering, and, above all, by bearing no grudges. It makes him attractive