Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [288]
Chapter 41
GREGORIO, WHO never swore, said, “Oh Christ Jesus.”
“My feelings entirely,” said Tobie. “Simon, who tried to kill Nicholas at Damme, should have been his father. And Jordan de Ribérac his grandfather. De Ribérac who, in case you don’t know, apparently scarred him for life with his ring. Now tell me Nicholas wasn’t right to lay as many trails and traps as he liked.”
Julius said, “But Jaak and his wife were the only ones who were hurt because of Nicholas.”
Tobie dragged his hat off and polished his scalp. “No. Evidently Jordan de Ribérac’s fall had something to do with him too. The demoiselle didn’t know what. But you’re right otherwise. Simon hasn’t been touched. Neither could you blame Nicholas for the cannon killing Simon’s uncle. Not really. And the demoiselle is adamant that the death of Jaak and his wife were unintentional. I’m inclined to believe that,” said Tobie.
“For what it’s worth, so am I,” said Gregorio. He said again, “My God. Poor bastard.”
Julius said, “But that’s the point, isn’t it? He is a bastard. His mother had a child – Christ, to Simon, it must have been – which was stillborn, and went off to her father, old Thibault, to recover. Her husband – Simon – never went near her again. Then Nicholas gets himself born. There was nobody to blame for it but the servants, but which one fathered him they never found out. Meanwhile he grows up … I suppose … longing to be accepted as a Kilmirren.”
“As Nicholas de St Pol,” Tobie said. “That’s the Kilmirren name.”
“Claes vander Poele,” said Gregorio. “Of course. So there’s a stubborn streak. He wouldn’t let the name be discarded. I can see the point.”
To Julius, there was only one point that mattered. He said, “So what did the demoiselle say?”
Tobie was silent. When he answered, it was in his clipped, professional voice. “She said that I was to tell you who Nicholas was. That I was to ask you not to tell anyone else. That I was to say that Simon was likely to pursue this feud of his, and that we should be warned that working for the Charetty company might become dangerous. And finally, to say that she believed in Nicholas, and his character and his loyalty, but that we should have to decide whether or not we could act as his keepers, so that there would be some restraint on the way his intelligence worked. She used the word keepers,” said Tobie.
He paused and then said, “She also said that the Venetian Piero Zorzi is holding festival on the Flanders flagship this evening, and has invited herself and her husband. She hasn’t seen Nicholas since, but she thinks this is what he’s been waiting for.”
Julius said, “Hasn’t seen … Didn’t he come back from the church with her?”
Tobie said, “Come back here? Knowing that we were going to be told what we’ve been told? I should think we’ll be lucky if we see him this week. And I can’t imagine how, if I were Nicholas, I could find a way to face us.”
“That’s because you’re not Nicholas,” said Gregorio. “Tobie. You’re the doctor. He’s exposed now, to us at least. What difference will that make to the way he works in future? Do you have more faith in him, or less?”
For a long time, Tobie said nothing. Then he said, “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s changed the way I felt before. I think I can out-guess him. I’m curious enough, at any rate, to want to try.”
Julius said, “Here? Do you think he’ll stay here?”
And Tobie said, “I don’t know if it will be here. Not if Venice is involved. Would you go overseas? Goro? Julius?”
Gregorio said, “I don’t mind where I go. But the demoiselle would need someone here. And