The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [66]
Kilmirren himself got up shortly, and moved to where a place had been cleared and set for de Fleury, while the new sweetmeats were served. He saw that Julius, the Bank’s manager, had been recruited to unpack them. He had been on his way to Blackness, and did not appear to relish the task. Simon said, ‘Does your Bank complete many such deals? I now see the need for your journey to Africa.’
‘It had some advantages. Do you want to buy anything? I have a few bales of dun cramoisy; a compt board; a hood set. Or a fine silver stoup with twelve stops?’
Simon looked, hazily smiling, round the echoing room. ‘Hitherto unused, I am sure. We are all well beyond the twelve stops except you. I have no doubt you feel yourself safer.’ He looked round. ‘What was it you said of wine, Dr Andreas? Makes man joyous, aids Nature in its course, and delays the onset of old age? Or was that marriage?’
‘I should hesitate to pronounce on marriage,’ Dr Andreas said, ‘although I am somewhat interested in the wine. I suggested to the young ladies that they refrain from indulging.’
Behind him, Katelijne Sersanders was surveying them. The woman Euphemia sat beyond her. Simon, smiling at them, said, ‘It is the heat of the fire. You noticed the fire?’ They could not fail to have noticed. The hearth, big enough for three stone arcades, could and did burn whole tree-trunks. The blaze today contained something else.
It was Dr Andreas the alchemist who replied, while his unemotional gaze rested on Claes. ‘Indeed, I observed something novel. The black stones, of which the late Pope Pius made mention. There is coal locally, and the King can afford it?’
‘Others, too,’ Simon said. ‘Already, some of us burn it. Soon there will be more. You yourself had hoped, Claes, to appropriate coal-bearing land? But the Hamiltons, it seems, felt some misgivings.’
‘The time ran out,’ Nicholas said. ‘I hear it went to somebody else.’ He looked up enquiringly, as Simon drew breath.
‘To me,’ Simon said. ‘To me, a friend. Does that not soften the blow? I paid a good deal, of course. But when I export, you may be sure I shall give you special rates. Joneta is pleased.’
‘Joneta?’ The voice was that of the Sersanders girl, Katelijne. Simon gave her another beguiling smile, answering. She was pretty.
‘Joneta Hamilton of Kinneil. Sir James’s natural daughter. She acted as my intermediary.’ He smiled again, differently. ‘I believe you tried to engage her interest, Claes? Once or twice? On the day of the tournament? She told me all about it.’
The eyes of the girl Katelijne switched between Claes and himself. The girl said unexpectedly, ‘The King calls him Master Nicol de Fleury.’
‘And I call him by his real name,’ Simon said. ‘I have advised the King to do the same. The King’s grace, my dear Claes, has charmed us all, while you have been away, with his readiness to be advised. Have you told Claes yet, demoiselle, of your uncle? Of Sir Anselm Adorne?’
She flushed with pride, he observed. She said, ‘It is for my uncle to mention it,’
‘Am I to know?’ said the man he was taunting. The man he couldn’t completely expose as a lout, or he could do some damage. But then, Simon could inflict some damage, too. And as a target, Claes was … irresistible.
It was Anselm Adorne himself who came over, hearing his name. Claes rose, as he had not done for Simon. Adorne said quickly, ‘I wished to tell you myself. For love of his cousin of Burgundy, the King has seen fit greatly to honour me. It is a token deserved by our country, not myself.’
‘But, no doubt, is none the less welcome. Let me think,’ Claes said. ‘You have received sword, baldric and spurs, and been proclaimed Guardian of Scotland?’
Adorne winced. He said, ‘I cannot apologise for what is no doing of mine. I have been created a knight, yes. And a councillor to the King. It is a nominal office.’
‘But will bring its own rewards. In land, I trust?’
‘In coal-bearing land?’ Simon intervened jocularly. He didn’t mind someone else baiting Claes, provided he had a share.