The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [177]
I want the teachers sprung of your line …
No. Think. Think. Keep thinking.
He said goodbye to them all. He bestowed a chaste embrace on each of his step-daughters and shook Gregorio by the hand, but could not bring himself to exchange looks with Tobie. Last of all, he leaned from his horse and spoke smiling to Diniz. When he rode off, he was smiling still.
On the tenth day of August, eleven days after Nicholas left, his lawyer Gregorio arrived breathless at the doors of Gelis van Borselen’s hall in the country. The ride which had taken Gelis three days had been accomplished by Margot’s lover in one. Tobie had agreed to come with him.
It had been Diniz who had provided them with the address of the ladies. Leaning from his horse as he left, Nicholas had given him leave. ‘Wait a week, if you like. By then, I shall be out of the country. There are no secrets now. Gelis and I are to meet in the spring. Neither she nor I will mind if you tell Gregorio how to reach the house where you found her.’
And so, freed from his promise, Diniz had told them.
They seemed to be expected. Their jaded horses were taken away, their baggage removed, and the house-steward ushered them into a large, sunny room, its windows set wide to the late evening sun. They were brought washing-water and towels, and given wine. The steward reappeared. He was alone.
Gregorio said, ‘Is it inconvenient? We shall stay of course at an inn. But we should like to speak to the ladies if possible.’ He wondered why Tobie said nothing. Tobie had said almost nothing ever since Diniz had told them, at last, where to come.
The house-steward said, ‘An inn? Honoured sirs, this house is yours for as long as you wish to avail yourself of it. The lady Gelis left orders.’
‘Left?’ Gregorio said.
‘Before she went away. I am sorry: you were unaware? After she came back from Bruges, the lady Gelis packed and departed. Four weeks ago to the day.’
‘We had not been told. To go where?’ Tobie asked.
The man – a courteous, middle-aged man of the neighbourhood – shook his head in regret. ‘To stay with friends. I do not know, I am afraid, where she was bound.’
‘But Mistress Margot?’ Gregorio spoke. There was already an ache in his chest.
‘Went a week after that, in a different direction. Where, again, I do not know; but her message may say. She left a letter for Master Gregorio.’
He heard Tobie speak. ‘How could she know we were coming?’
The man looked taken aback. ‘Forgive me. I thought it was arranged. At least, I was told to wait for a month and then forward her letter to Bruges. But you are here.’
The packet came and Gregorio opened it. It was a long letter from Margot, repeating her reasons for what she was doing and asking him to understand. She said she loved him. She did not tell him where she was going. She had been upset when she wrote it, for the last words were blotted with tears. She seemed, so far as he could make out, to be saying that they would not have to wait very long.
‘But she’s right, you know,’ Tobie said later, in the chamber they shared for one night. ‘I know the word I’d like to apply to the van Borselen family. But if Nicholas comes back from Alexandria and Gelis takes the boy to Venice to meet him, Margot will be free in eight months.’ He waited. ‘Won’t she?’
Gregorio shook his head, and Tobie waited again. Then he spoke again, trying to be patient. ‘All right, Goro. I shan’t wheedle your secret out of you. I’m sure Margot is safe. But look, I’m worried. Nicholas is a wrecker when he’s put under duress. You know that. And he’s out there with no wife and no keepers. He’s cut me off and left you behind.’
‘Temporarily,’ Gregorio said. ‘He has to run the Bank. He can’t do without us completely.’
Tobie looked at him, surprised, and