The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [156]
The flies kept getting into the wine but paid no attention to water. After a while, Nicholas said, ‘Let me guess. Phemie doesn’t like fighting?’
Gregorio lifted his gaze from his food. He said, ‘Mistress Phemie Dunbar is in the Castle. I haven’t seen her.’
‘That’s no answer. What’s the trouble?’ said Nicholas.
‘I should say that to you,’ Gregorio said.
‘Why?’
Gregorio said, ‘I don’t know. I’m not afraid of the jousts. You won’t be so stupid as to damage Sersanders or Boyd, and I don’t think either would hurt you. I’d forgotten about Cyprus and – the rest of it.’
Very few people knew about Cyprus – and the rest of it. Julius. Julius and Katelijne. Nicholas said, ‘So what else?’
Gregorio said, ‘What about Ochoa de Marchena and the gold?’
‘Explain,’ said Nicholas. It used up time.
Gregorio said, ‘You’ve bought land. You’re building a castle. You talk of farming. You’re in the middle of developing dozens of projects and have run up debts which may not be paid, as the projects will have to be nursed at least until the King attains his majority, if not later. You have announced, indeed, that you intend to stay some length of time, and when I objected, you said it wasn’t your job to polish door-knobs. Neither it is. But you can’t run a Venetian bank from a castle at Beltrees.’
He looked warm. It was a warm day. Nicholas said, ‘I also said that if something needed attention, you could handle it. Are you asking me to send you home or not to send you home?’
‘Neither,’ said Gregorio, and then looked both angry and bothered. He said, ‘I’ve run the Bank for you before. I can do it again. But I can’t handle the gold. Maybe the whole thing is a hoax. Maybe we’re imagining things. But if that was a message from Ochoa, it deserves some very fast action. And it was directed to you, not to me.’
‘Why? You know Ochoa’s voice,’ Nicholas said. There was, as he expected, a silence. Who knew Greek? No, who would recognise the sound of Greek and be intrigued enough to listen? He went on easily, ‘But in fact you are right. I did question Crackbene. The cage was consigned to me: it was on the lading-note but with no indication of the sender. He had it taken ashore when the Ghost was unloaded, but didn’t bother to tell me when he realised he and I were both leaving. The Countess saw it, and got it.’
Gregorio said, ‘You thought it was important enough to buy back.’
‘I still do. But you’ve just described, haven’t you, all the reasons why I can’t do much about it?’
Gregorio looked at him. He said, ‘You are saying that to withdraw now from Scotland would do more damage than the gold itself could repair, if we found it?’
Nicholas said, ‘I’d put it the other way round. I really think it’s worth losing the gold to stay on and develop all that I’ve started. If the gold exists. If the message is genuine. If the person who sent it isn’t dead by now.’
‘You offered Diniz half of it if he found it,’ Gregorio said. He had a legal mind, had Gregorio.
Nicholas said, ‘But as you said, the message was personal. Are we going to go on talking about this for ever? You don’t give a damn for the gold. You are only, as always, trying to find ways to force me out of the country. I have said this already. If you want to go, go. I am not disturbing my plans in order to deliver you from temptation and your mistress from her self-imposed child-nursing. Solve that problem yourself.’
Gregorio got up and walked back to the house. Bravo, Gregorio. Bravo, Palamedes, who invented this manner of living. Nicholas got up, too, after a moment, and went off to reduce the work of three days to three hours. Or however long it was between then and