Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [229]
She had been useful to her uncle, the seigneur of Veere, and had listened, patient if not much impressed, to Wolfaert her cousin, who held a Scottish earldom because of the Scottish princess he had married. She knew all about the family of St Pol of Kilmirren in Scotland, and the unpleasant grandfather Jordan who bore a French title and lived at Ribérac, and advised the French King on finances. She knew about the philandering Simon, and why her pregnant, stupid, dead sister Katelina had married him. She had guessed more than half of Nicholas’s story before he had proclaimed the truth in his fever that night. She had found out what Nicholas was capable of, and had trained herself to act and think as he did.
It was disconcerting, therefore, to find that, four weeks after his departure, she had still failed to implement fully the disciplined programme she had set for herself. When she should have been learning Arabic, she called on Zuhra, whose marriage contract with Umar was now final. The girl’s affairs didn’t much interest Gelis, but Zuhra was the only innocent in Timbuktu who assumed, without a second thought, that Nicholas had been her lover.
It was worth reminding herself of the fact, since an affair of even one night should not be forgotten. It was part of one’s history. Katelina had not wished to stay a virgin, and neither had she. One required a catholic viewpoint.
It was because of the wider, worldly stand-point that she deferred her visits to the Qadi’s library, in order to assemble her thoughts on the scheme Nicholas had prepared for Bel and Diniz and Gregorio.
He had specified the exact cargo of the Ghost, and had jotted down a long, orderly list of the many ways in which it could have been stolen, together with recommendations for tracing it.
He had examined the case of the impounded ship itself, and proposed that Gregorio now set on foot the moves that would vindicate his ownership, remove the injunction, and restore either the ship or the insurance money. He recommended that Astorre, the captain of his mercenary army, should be traced, and Tobie his physician, now fighting in Albania with Skanderbeg, since both could describe the ship’s early history.
He proposed Gregorio should sue the Fortado, especially if Melchiorre had survived to give evidence. He thought it likely that my lord Simon and the Lomellini brothers would fall out, once Simon found the Vatachino had shared in the Fortado. This might make it easier for Diniz, with Gregorio’s help, to expand the Ponta do Sol property. He had said precisely how much of the gold should be spent to that end, and how much in Bruges and Venice. He had recommended that, having established Jaime in Madeira, Diniz should consider whether his mother wished to remain in the Vasquez home in Lagos or return nearer her relatives. Nicholas suggested that Diniz take her to Bruges, where she could stay meantime in the house of João Vasquez, and close to the van Borselen family.
‘Why?’ Gelis had said, when Nicholas had been physically present, seated among them, reading from the papers.
He had looked up. ‘Your sister married Lucia’s brother.’
‘But she’s dead. And the child isn’t there. That’s why I went to Lagos. Simon doesn’t let the child come to Bruges. You would think he was frightened of something.’
‘I can’t think what,’ Nicholas had said; and went on reading.
So Lucia and Diniz were meant to go to Bruges, while Gregorio stayed to complete his work on Madeira and see the San Niccolò restored and turned round with a fresh cargo. And the rest of the money was to be dispensed in Venice, but the notes had not said how. Or not the parts she had seen. Perhaps he guessed that she was not quite disinterested.
The plans were all provident, careful. They had to be. It would have been different, had the Ghost’s cargo also survived. And, of course, there was no saying that the