Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [302]
‘Do you really want to know?’ Gelis had said.
‘No. And the verse? You did approve of the verse?’
‘Of course I approved of the verse. It was the only time you stopped talking. Calm down,’ Gelis had said. ‘Don’t let go all at once.’ She sounded on edge.
It was good advice, he supposed. He further supposed that it was the sort of advice the bridegroom should be offering the bride, not the other way round. He had other things he was waiting to tell her. About the land and the pretty house he had bought, or Bonkle for him. About the plans for Spangnaerts Street. If she wished she could live with him in Cyprus. In Alexandria. In Damascus. In a single, small room, with a fountain playing outside. I want the teachers sprung of your line to help instruct the poor fools sprung of mine. I mean to match you, child for child …
It seemed that, once out of the hall, Tobie and Julius and Gregorio were waiting to escort them both home. Godscalc, less fit than the others, had ridden before them, with Tilde and her sister.
It was not far to go, and the sky above them was paling. They walked, and others walked with them, full of yawning and laughter, dropping aside at their doors with a final bawdy rejoinder. The Duke would be in bed soon, and so would he. They walked up Naalden Straate past the Hof Bladelin, and found themselves still attached to Tommaso Portinari, less than sober and profoundly desirous of company. After two ineffectual attempts to dispose of him, Julius and Tobie took him over, and walked him along to Spangnaerts Street between them.
Bel and Diniz had already gone. She had kissed Nicholas, and he had hugged her in return. In his arms she felt plump again now, and not at all the quiet, suffering woman he had carried to the Joliba. And Diniz, surprisingly, had kissed him as well; a cousinly kiss, full of affection. There was, Nicholas dimly reflected, a lot of affection about him. He was not really standing alone, nor was Gelis. They had been apart for eight weeks.
He began to want, very much, to be with Gelis; and smiled at her. She raised her hand; there was a glint from her ring. The silver stuff of her gown in the half-light looked like a mermaid, a mirage. He put his arm round her shoulders, and found he was shaking. He removed it. ‘Oh, Jesus!’ he said. ‘Don’t let go all at once. When we get to the house –’
‘Marching orders?’ she said. ‘When we get to the house, I shall go upstairs, and you will stay below and sing the lion’s song three times over. You remember the lion? Its song?’
‘Shall I ever forget it?’ he said. And proved it all along the last, short street to his house.
Bien vienne la belle bergére:
De qui la beauté et maniére …
Julius joined him, and then Tommaso, and Tobie, ending before his own gates.
C’est la source, c’est la miniére,
De nostre force grande et fiére.
C’est nostre paix et asseurance.
Dieu louans de telle aliance,
Crions, chantons, à lie chere,
Bien vienne.
Gelis went in.
‘I have to sing it twice more,’ Nicholas said, and began.
‘Three times,’ Tommaso said. They were trying to turn him round.
‘I’ve done it once,’ Nicholas said. ‘Oh, bring him in. Tobie, find him somewhere to sleep. Father Godscalc?’
They were, at least, inside the door. Godscalc, still in his best robes, said, ‘Bring him in. What are you doing?’
‘Singing under my breath,’ Nicholas said. ‘I have to do it once more. Well, twice.’
Godscalc laughed. He said, ‘You must wish you had less good a memory. Nicholas. That was well done, today.’
‘Which?’ Nicholas said. ‘The wedding, the Wedding, or the court case that wasn’t?’
‘The court case that wasn’t,’ Godscalc said. ‘You are a fine man when you want to be, Nicholas. And tonight, you deserve your reward.’
‘I’m on the last verse,’ Nicholas said. He was already elsewhere in spirit. No, not in spirit.
Tommaso said, ‘I owe you some money.’ They had let him down on the floor, which was clean.
‘Never mind,’ Nicholas