The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [109]
‘Crackbene?’ she said. ‘What has he done? Has he done something to Simon?’
‘But quicker,’ he repeated with patience.
‘What has happened to Simon?’ she said.
He had thought better of her. She had thought it all through, surely, when planning it. He changed his position with indolence, folding his arms and lifting his chin in the air, so that his eyes almost closed.
‘You want to know the consequences of your scheme? Simon was alive when I left, but I don’t hold out great hopes for his future. Lucia is dead. Henry will die if I say so. Jordan is extremely uneasy, and is likely to come and put to you all the matters we have just been discussing, not excluding the test for lactating nuns. I will not wait any longer. Did you bear a child?’
‘Yes!’ she said. ‘It is dead.’
The lamps flickered. Wheels rumbled out in the yard. Somewhere, someone was singing. His lids remained nearly closed, because he told them to. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he said. ‘You could not hurt me with a dead child.’
‘I lost it!’ she said.
‘You would have provided a substitute. Without it, there was no point in scheming.’
‘You are so sure,’ she said. ‘So sure you know everything. All right, listen. Listen. Open your eyes, damn you, and listen.
‘I have had a child. Eighteen days ago. It was half-human, sexless, a freak. The nuns will tell you. They buried it.’
His eyes were open by then. He sat up, and clasped his hands gently. He said, ‘Why not say so at once?’
‘It was you,’ Gelis said, ‘who taught me to delay what will give the most pleasure.’
Her eyes were searching and bright. His thoughts flickered, random as lamplight, and then became still, before the brightness of her eyes.
Nicholas drew a breath and said, ‘No!’
He rose before she could stop him. The candles streamed as he passed. He crossed the room to the inner door: the door that was shut but which showed light underneath it. He flung the door open and saw what he had guessed he would see: the invisible witness to all that had happened. Margot, who had deserted Gregorio for this.
She cried out, and he dropped his hand without touching her. Her face was drawn, the natural comeliness dimmed with fear and anxiety. He said, ‘I won’t hurt you. Come in. Will you come in?’
She was looking beyond him, at Gelis. He turned his head to Gelis as well, the standpost hard at his back. Then he straightened and left it. He came back to where Gelis stood. He said, ‘We should each tell the truth. Let Margot come in and sit. Both of you, listen. Lucia is dead, but I didn’t kill her. Henry will come to no harm. Simon is being punished, and is also bearing your punishment: I presume that is what you intended, and I make no apology. Gelis, I shall not kill the child, or renounce it. Neither will Simon claim it. If it exists, there is nothing to fear. So tell me. Is there a child?’
‘Yes,’ said Margot.
Gelis said, ‘No. He is tricking you.’
Nicholas said, ‘Margot?’ The lamps burned; he felt his lips crack.
Margot said, ‘Be fair. I can only tell you a little. A child. A child born alive, and still living.’
‘A son or a daughter?’ he said.
‘No!’ said Gelis again. She rose, her face livid.
Margot said, ‘A son. That is all I can tell you.’
‘That is all,’ Gelis repeated. She stood before Margot, as if her shadow could silence her. ‘That is all. Go away. Nothing more.’
‘And here? He is here?’ said Nicholas softly.
‘No,’ said Gelis. ‘No, he isn’t.’
‘Margot?’ he said.
She stood beside Gelis. She said, ‘No. He isn’t here.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter. The place isn’t so large. Look, it is daylight.’
He rose and passed the two women. Margot’s arm was round the girl’s shoulders. He laid hands on the shutters and parted them. Then he set the window ajar and rested beside it, the air on his face. Presently he said, ‘The singing. What is it?’
‘Hymns from the chapel,’ Margot said. She seemed to wait. Then she spoke in a subdued voice. ‘Nicholas? Now we have told you, will