Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [59]
Life was not fair. She had not seen Jaak for many years, not since Cornelis died or long before it. All she and the de Fleury company had in common now was their trading connections, stiffly maintained because both houses depended on them, but involving no warmth, no personal interest, no friendly contact. She did not like Jaak de Fleury, and he did not like her.
And if she did not like him, she could imagine how Claikine must feel. Although he had never spoken of his time in Geneva. Not consciously, anyway.
Now she was sending him there, however briefly. She looked directly at him and said, “Yes, Astorre will call at Geneva. What are you afraid of?”
He was looking at his darned hose, and smoothing one knee with a finger from which the blue dye had almost worn off. In the small cabinet meant only for Julius, he seemed to occupy all the air and all the floorspace, even though he was folded double on the low stool. He laughed suddenly and said, “You’d be surprised, demoiselle. I suppose, of ridicule I haven’t invited.”
“Then you should learn how to deal with it,” the widow said. “As I said, you have a lot to find out. Captain Astorre has no objection to teaching you. You will learn also from Julius. Indeed, I hope there are some things Julius might find himself learning from you. When you are not here, his totals for Felix’s scholastic equipment frequently depart from the credible.”
The finger on his knee stopped, and he looked at her.
She answered the query with a calmness she did not need to pretend. “Yes. Julius wants to go to Italy also. I hope, by the way, that you thanked him for what happened at Sluys.”
Claes said, “Yes, of course. Why does he want to go with Astorre? What will you do? Who would help you here with the business?”
Her anxiety dissolved, for a moment, in amusement. She said, “Why shouldn’t he go? Julius is ambitious. A well-led band needs a notary, a paymaster, a treasurer. He would do well, and it would give him the authority he longs for. And as for the business, I don’t believe Julius really thinks that pawnbroker Oudenin will supplant him before the end of the contract. But Julius does know that I will not make him a partner, now or in the future. I need someone cleverer.”
Silence.
Everything she said, she knew, had been understood. Everything she thought … almost. She said, “I think I can manage. I may make a temporary appointment. That is my concern. Your concern is your immediate future. You have three offers. Which will you take?”
She could see him physically take the decision: straightening his arms so that his big hands hardened on his knees; firming, with a long inhalation, the muscles which had held him politely at attention on the low, backless stool.
He said, “You have considered that, by law, you would receive a fee from the galley commandant or the Dauphin for releasing me from my apprenticeship?”
She was answered. She kept her voice, in spite of it, steady. “Every time I look at my debit column, I consider it,” Marian de Charetty said. “If you go to Milan for me instead, I shall demand large profits in compensation. Do I take it you have decided for Astorre and Italy?”
His resignation was marked. “I have no alternative,” he said. “I was brought up obeying your every word. You send me to Milan. I go there.”
“Such martyrdom!” said the widow. “We shall try to survive your departure.”
“I’m sure you will,” Claes said abstractedly. His mind, it appeared, was on the business. He said, “As to the dyeshop, I think I’ve heard you and Meester Julius suggest that if the fulling and the finishing were to be farmed out, Henninc would enjoy giving all his attention to the dyeing, with Lippin to help him. And a cheerful sort of clerk – we all know they are about – could work with jonkheere Felix, now he’s ready to be interested in what goes on in the business. The investment