The Ringed Castle - Dorothy Dunnett [310]
‘I shall be happy to do so,’ said Lymond. He had, Adam noted in the midst of his own voiceless consternation, a faint colour under his skin. He added, ‘I shall leave, if you wish, straight from this place. My baggage can follow me.’
‘Then,’ said the Earl of Arundel, moving his eyes slowly along the faces on either side of him, ‘I think we are in accord with you, Don Juan. The papers burn; the prisoners are freed; the matter is ended. Mr Crawford——’
‘It will give me pleasure,’ said Don Juan de Figueroa, rising, ‘to assist Mr Crawford to fulfill his generous undertaking to board ship immediately. My lord president, have I your leave?’
Arundel, half rising, nodded. Vannes, wisely reticent, stood up, but could not refrain from saying, ‘And the prisoners, my lords? When are Master Tait and the others to leave the country?’
It was Pembroke who answered. ‘They are mercenaries. They will have no trouble in finding employment, or a ship to carry them wherever they wish to go. Some, I take it, may wish to return with Mr Crawford to Russia. The rest have three days in which to leave this island. Meanwhile Sir Henry Jerningham, I am sure, will continue to see to their comfort.’
Guthrie said, ‘We wish to go back to Russia.’ Adam looked at him.
‘All of you?’
Adam opened his mouth. ‘All of us,’ said Fergie Hoddim.
‘Except me,’ said Hercules Tait. ‘I am no longer, alas, a man of the sword.’
‘All of you, except Master Tait?’ said Arundel once more. Philippa’s face was expressionless: Lymond’s was not.
Ludo d’Harcourt said flatly, ‘If Mr Crawford goes, I will go.’
‘Then it seems,’ said Lord Arundel, ‘that we shall require river transport for six people. Don Juan?’
‘It can be arranged,’ said the Spaniard, and, completing his walk over the floor, called for his captain and secretary, and spoke to them. Sir William Petre, gathering his robes, walked round the table to Lymond.
‘Provided you wished indeed to return to your Tsar, I must congratulate you, sir, on this outcome. And on possessing a master so alert to the value of information. I doubt if any western nation could command such a distinguished espionage service.’ He smiled, his eyes unsmiling. ‘When did you have your audience with King Philip, Mr Crawford?’
‘I cannot quite recall, my lord,’ Lymond said. ‘But I think shortly after we concluded the agreement concerning the munitions of war. It was a pleasure to revive my rusting Spanish.’
‘Ah. You speak Spanish,’ said Petre. ‘It is a gift some on the Council would envy you.… You exercised care, I take it, in stowing the pewter?’
‘Master Dimmock,’ said Lymond, ‘was most generous with advice concerning the pewter. I trust the lion and lioness will prove no more dangerous. It is my conviction that, in matters of trade, the English and Muscovites will deal well together.’
And Sir William Petre, bowing with something close to a genuine smile, straightened and said, ‘You are indeed serious about returning to Russia. I see that. Do you expect to recover the ground you have lost? May we look to see you stand friend to our merchants in Moscow?’
‘So far as I am able,’ Lymond said. ‘My first duty is to the realm and its ruler.’
‘And Scotland?’ said the voice of Lady Lennox beside him; and as he turned, the black eyes looked into his with bitterness and with anger and with something else too well hidden to identify.’ Scotland may slide at France’s petticoat tails, losing her men, her pride and her nationhood, and you no longer care for it?’
Lymond returned the challenge standing at ease, self possessed from the sheen of his hair to the fall of his exquisite robe. ‘Would she have fared better, do you suppose, at England’s petticoat tails, which seem to be sliding with equal haste in a different direction? Or do you mean that Scotland should rise and overthrow her French rulers and appoint a King of her own, with Stewart blood in his veins as strong as that of the little Queen Mary? But would such a king not constitute a