The Spring of the Ram - Dorothy Dunnett [94]
But she was still awake when he moved from the window and, instead of returning, began to put on his clothes. They had not been laid out as they usually were, and she was reminded of something. She said, “Pagano. Yesterday, I had to walk Willequin alone in the rain.”
He went on assembling his garments with what, in anyone else, would have been a fit of suppressed annoyance. But his voice to her was unchanged. “My little lady, you should ask someone to take your dog for you.”
“Well, Noah does it,” she said. “But he wasn’t there.”
He reached for his cloak and came to kiss her. “No. He found a relative in Constantinople, and wanted to stay there. I must go down to the wharf. I’ll send the carts for the baggage.”
“A relative of Noah’s!” she said. “In Constantinople?”
His hand on the door-latch, he glanced back at her. “The Black Sea is the biggest known market for slaves, you know that. And others are captured at sea with their masters. Noah was hardly surprised to see a favourite cousin, and will be very happy to stay. You don’t miss him?”
She thought how selfless he was. She didn’t miss Noah; not at all; except when she needed someone to take out her dog.
In the dark just before dawn, Nicholas had his ship rowed out of harbour, led by a pilot boat which left him at Tophane. For the rest of the narrows, they had a very good rutter and John le Grant and the Ragusan, who knew every rock.
Just past Tophane, a fishing-boat hailed them quietly and passed up some baskets of sprats and a large number of unwieldy parcels and boxes, followed by several people. It then fell back and waited.
The business of getting Astorre’s men out from the hold and back on their benches had begun, and Nicholas was below. It was Julius, his sling glimmering white in the dark, who welcomed the group of passengers and showed them, with their possessions, to the lower cabin. He then took to the master cabin the four men who had brought both the books and the passengers, while the bales that accompanied them were carried down to the hold. There Nicholas, Tobie and Godscalc presently joined them.
The four were all dealers in silk, and two of them were also dealers in alum. Julius, formal in black, introduced them. Messer Bartolomeo Giorgio or Zorzi, brother of the one-legged Greek. Also Girolamo Michiel of Venice, Messer Bartolomeo’s business partner. And, of course, Messer Dietifeci of Florence, the agent for Florence at Pera. And with him, his Florentine partner, Messer Bastiano da Foligno. Julius reeled it all off in his splendid Bolognese accent, a confident man despite the pain in his chest; because his name had been cleared and his conduct forgiven and if anyone could conduct a business meeting with proper decorum it was an experienced Bologna-trained lawyer.
Then Nicholas settled down to ask questions, and all the trading matters they had come to Pera to negotiate were picked out and examined and fitted into their programme, one after the other, like beans being pushed in a drill.
At the end, Bartolomeo said, “You don’t waste much time, my friend Niccolò.”
Like Nicholai Giorgio de’ Acciajuoli, his brother was dark and bearded, but built on a shorter and stockier frame, with a nose wide at the roots and square, practical hands. Nicholas said, “It is as well to settle these things. The market is big enough. I don’t see why Bursa should have more than its share. At any rate, I’m glad to have met you, if briefly.”
Zorzi smiled. “In lieu of myself, I allot you my patron your passenger. The fee will be well worth your while. There are two servants and a priest, whose passage and keep will also be paid for. They have all been assured, needless to say, that you are free of the plague. I have to congratulate you on the ruse.”
“I had help at Modon,” Nicholas said. “As you know. I have to thank you, too, for what you brought. But we mustn’t keep you. It will be getting light soon.”
They rose. Bartolomeo said,