The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [253]
Not until the following afternoon did the Emir of Alexandria consider it safe to allow into the city the captain and passengers of the ship which had arrived, so inopportunely, at the moment of the Ottoman victory. Later still, formalities over, the noble and puissant lord Anselm Adorne, Baron Cortachy, walked into the city of Alexandria at last, and was conducted to his spacious rooms in the Genoese fondaco where his niece Katelijne ran glowing into his arms, and Dr Tobias, her physician, smiled breathlessly.
It had been Kathi’s idea to watch from the roof. It had been Kathi who first saw coming, escorted solemnly by the Genoese Consul, the small party of five weatherbeaten, richly dressed men attended by a large retinue of servants and Mamelukes.
There were no women among them. There was no one, either, resembling a Florentine or a Maghgribian trader. ‘Benedetto Dei and the other man aren’t there,’ Tobie had exclaimed.
‘Gelis van Borselen isn’t there,’ had said Kathi, much more sharply. Then she said, ‘Dei would go to the Florentine fondaco. I don’t know where the other would lodge, but I’m sure M. de Fleury does. Where do you think his wife is?’
‘At the Venetian fondaco,’ said Tobie sourly. His heart sank at the notion of the news from Africa and Gelis arriving together. Gazing below, he observed that Adorne, now much nearer, had lost none of his grace of appearance or manner, although deeply tanned and more spare than he had been. He walked, conversing lightly, with his gaze lifted to the fondaco, as if hoping to catch a glimpse of his niece. Tobie said, ‘We ought to go down.’
Kathi in turn was smiling fondly down on her uncle’s broad hat. She said, ‘He looks well, doesn’t he? He so loves managing things. He’ll know where she is.’ She turned and ran, Tobie following.
Below, embrace and exclamations over, Anselm Adorne turned from his niece to shake hands with the doctor. ‘You have looked after her so well. I want to hear all about your journey from Rome, and what you’ve been doing in Alexandria.’
Kites, thought Tobie. Pigeons. Visits to churches? He coughed and opened his mouth. ‘We want to hear about you,’ said Katelijne, taking her uncle by the arm and sitting down with him. ‘And Dr Tobias would like to have a word, if it’s convenient, with the lady of Fleury. You know why?’
Anselm Adorne looked at the doctor. He said wryly, ‘I suppose, having seen the Claretti in the harbour, that I do know why. I’m sorry, that being the case, to disappoint you, and Nicholas. The lady Gelis isn’t with me.’
The tone of voice was perfectly level, and Tobie’s pulse settled. He said, ‘She is still on board? Or – I hope she hasn’t suffered some mishap?’
Adorne smiled. ‘So far as I know she is well. In fact, I thought to find her already here. You didn’t know that she left us? After you sailed, she decided she would rather travel the quick way, by pilgrim galley from Venice. Our other three friends had already departed to do the same thing. She left to join them.’
‘And did?’ the doctor said.
‘So far as I know. And if she did, did so safely: the galley arrived at Jaffa without harm. We heard as much on our way. But from Jaffa to here is no great distance. I thought she would have arrived.’ He frowned. ‘You make me anxious. Nothing can have gone wrong?’
Tobie realised he had been staring at nothing. He said swiftly, ‘No. I am sure there is a simple explanation. The galley arrived, and three important men and a lady would hardly avoid notice, I’m sure. In any case, I know where to ask. I’ll go now and find out. You’ll want to speak to Kathi, and rest.’
He smiled, shook hands again, and held Kathi’s eyes for a moment in warning. They had had an oblique talk, that day, about the ethics of