The Spring of the Ram - Dorothy Dunnett [214]
Doria didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he said, “I have heard of the pearls. Are they spoken for?”
For a scholar, the Greek was inclined to be brusque. He said, “I have just said. The palace goods have already been chosen and purchased. At Erzerum, by the Archimandrite. A wise precaution, since the goods were so few, and there was bound to be a demand. If you wanted the pearls for yourself, I apologise. But there are other rooms. Ask. They will tell you which items are ours, and which are for sale to others.”
They went from room to room, waiting until bales were unpacked and men were willing to talk to them. They were not very welcome: merchants who had come a long way had their minds on warm water and food and refreshment in civilised company while the goods were laid out by others, and the sordid matter of trade was by custom deferred. They told Pagano, when he asked, which of the goods had been bought by the Palace. They were the finest things. When he asked to see the rest, he received a confusion of answers. They kept trying to tell him their goods were all sold, and he kept trying to tell them they were wrong. In the end, Pagano paid a dragoman double what he was worth to leave his food and come and translate. When she asked him what they had said, he didn’t answer at first. Then he said, “I don’t believe it. But they say that they are already under contract to barter their goods to named Trebizond merchants. Not ourselves or the Venetians. Merchants they buy from every year, or barter with on this basis. They say they cannot break such a contract, or they will be in debt. They say all the goods not spoken for by the Palace are committed by this arrangement. They say there is nothing left to be bought.”
His voice had risen. She saw a city guard turn, and touched his arm to calm him. She still didn’t quite see the trouble. The Genoese had bought their goods and sent them off by another route, but the Republic would get what it wanted, and ought to be pleased. If she had wanted pearls, she had lost them; but he could still buy her something at second-hand from the merchants, surely, who had got to them first. She saw then that the same applied to the Charetty dyes. He would have to buy them, at a price, from a middleman. The fortune he had been going to make had suddenly shrunk. Perhaps he would fail to make a profit at all. Perhaps he was going to have to pay more for his goods than all the silver he had got for his cargo, although at the time it had seemed to fill all their boxes. She said, “When Nicholas first came to Trebizond, did he sell his cargo for silver?”
At first he didn’t reply. Then he said, “No. He had to barter, or accept promissory notes.”
“Then you will have to get them,” she said. “They’ll be at the villa. And you can buy on credit, Pagano. Charetty credit with the Medici bank.”
“What are you worrying about?” he said. “Leave the business to me. There is nothing here that can’t be resolved.”
He was smiling but she heard his voice grate. She said, “It was a pity, wasn’t it, that you didn’t think of going to Erzerum after Sumela? Then you could have bought what you needed and brought it here.”
He swung round and stared at her. Then lifting his head, he looked all about. He said, “Astorre.”
She said, “He’ll talk about Nicholas.”
“No,” said Doria. “Wait.” She heard him ask the dragoman something, and then a number of voices answering. When he turned back to her, Pagano’s face had an odd look. He said, “There were only two hundred camels. They’re here. But there were another three hundred pack-mules, each carrying a hundred and fifty pounds of raw Caspian silk belonging to the Charetty company. They went straight to the Florentine fondaco.”
“Then Father Godscalc and Master Tobias will have them,” Catherine said.
“No. Because the fondaco is locked. The mules couldn’t get in. No one can get in without permission. And Astorre, being here, didn’t know it. Quick!” His face, which had gone dull