The Ringed Castle - Dorothy Dunnett [218]
Irritating, as it turned out, but true. Warned in advance, the Queen Dowager, Regent of Scotland, gave audience therefore to the Ambassador of the noble King Ivan of Russia, and returned him gentle answers, and hope of speedy restitution of the goods, clothing, jewels and letters lost or pilfered from the English ship Edward, for which purpose she intended to send north her Commissioners, with a Herald of Arms, to Pitsligo, there to command by Proclamation and other edicts that all persons, no degree excepted, with any part of the spoiled goods should restore them.
Nepeja, with Best as his interpreter, answered suitably, if without particular reverence. No one was wearing silver tissue, nor were the cupboards laden with white and gilt plate. The Court was handsomely dressed and more than adequately jewelled, but he found it hard to reconcile these bluff men with their chains and furred gowns with a nation which would permit a woman to order them; a group of foreigners to fight and rule in their midst. The Queen was a child, the Voevoda had told him, affianced to the young heir of France, and being brought up in that Kingdom. And until she came of age her mother, a Frenchwoman, was ruling in Scotland, advised by Frenchmen and protected by Frenchmen, as well as by Scots. ‘Are the boyars powerful?’ he had asked the Voevoda, and the Voevoda had said, ‘Yes. But they are divided. And the kingdom is under a strong rule, and a moderately wise one. If war breaks out between England and France, it will be another matter.’
‘This country will side with France against England?’ Nepeja had said. ‘The English then are its Tartars?’
And the Voevoda had been amused, but had said, ‘Not every Scotsman wants to fight France’s quarrel. But there is a long history of coercion between the countries on the two sides of our border. The crowns of England and Scotland are both Catholic, but the refugees of Queen Mary’s persecution find harbour with the Queen Dowager in Scotland. She is tolerant, and far sighted in a number of ways. Don’t underrate her.’
One listened and if one was wise, replied nothing to the Voevoda. For one found little to admire in such a nation, where the groom taking your bridle would exchange the time of day to your face, and the porter, the ferryman, the very peasant walking the fields would expect without shame to address you. Nor where the ruler was of that sex which no proper man could underrate.
The exchange therefore was brief: the welcome and answer between monarch and ambassador concluded and Master Osep Nepeja given permission, if he so pleased, to stay in the realm of Scotland while these matters of restitution were being pursued. He kissed the Queen’s hand. So, too, did Messrs Buckland and Best, Hussey, Gilpin, Lewis and Roberts. Last, with equal deference, came Mr Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny, presently in the employment of the Russian Tsar, and companion to Master Nepeja on his momentous embassy. As he took her hand, the Queen Dowager said, ‘If the Ambassador permits, we should like to have private words with this gentleman.’
The Ambassador, his eyes sharp beneath untrimmed brows, gave, through Mr Best, his willing agreement. The group of Englishmen bowed, and Master Nepeja; they backed, and the door closed behind them.
‘Now, Mr Crawford,’ said Mary of Guise.
He could not have expected to leave Scotland without this confrontation. Four years before, in this city, he had refused to lead his company of St Mary’s as an instrument of the Queen Dowager’s. Since then, she had tried to form a standing army of her own, and had failed. Now, whatever she guessed, she must know, from the suave, visiting lords who had called on him, who had entertained Buckland and Best, and chatted to Hislop and Blacklock and d’Harcourt, that the nucleus of St Mary’s at least was now in the employment of the Tsar. So now she gazed at the presentable, unpredictable Scotsman before her and said, ‘We hear you favour Muscovy with your advice