The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [91]
‘Then you can start again,’ said the old woman.
Simon lifted his eyes from her face and met Nicholas de Fleury’s full gaze. He looked as he had in the ice. Then de Fleury said, ‘This is not the place. No.’
‘Is it not?’ said the woman. ‘In the face of that puir feckless lass on the bed, is it not the place to ask what or who brought her here to her death? And if St Pol canna tell ye, I will.’
The lamp burned. On the far side of the bed, de Fleury touched a settle, and sat. To Simon, seldom fanciful, it seemed as if they were all in a painting: the still, porcelain corpse with a silent guardian at either hand and its faithful donor and friend at its feet. There should be angels, lilies, lap-dogs, swaddling-bands, trumpets.
The old woman had noticed the movement. She said, ‘Aye, get ready.’ Her eyes were fixed on de Fleury. ‘She made that ride for the sake of her family; because she thought she could succour Kilmirren, and Henry, and maybe even both of you. And you are both here, but she isna.’
De Fleury looked up, as if she had compelled him. Simon remembered that these two had been a long time together in Africa. It wasn’t possible to say what was in the old woman’s gaze, although he had seen something like it in the assize court. He saw suddenly that she was an ally.
Then de Fleury said, ‘Could you be quick?’ and Simon moved.
The woman turned. ‘Calm yourself, Simon,’ she said. ‘I ken the ship’s there. So does he. Ye can both wait for this. There is one on the bed can none other.’
‘So speak,’ de Fleury said.
‘What brought Lucia here?’ said the woman. ‘It’s simple enough. Nicholas? You’ve cause to mind the day in the lists. The Prince insulted the lad, and Henry tried to use his bairn’s might against him, and when you interfered, against you. I canna measure the courage it took, except by the damage it did him.’
She turned to Simon. ‘Henry was let off one crime. For two, he would have been banished or worse, if Nicholas had reported it. But then, Simon, you let the boy see you were proud of him. He couldna brag to his friends, but he gave a fine account of it to his aunt at Kilmirren. How he’d all but killed the Bruges merchant de Fleury.’
Simon cursed. He said, ‘When?’
‘Yestreen. The day afore, it is, now. He came by me, and said something of it. I should have done something sooner. But when I went to the castle, Lucia’d left with her man. And they said she’d gone east, to M. de Fleury.’
She switched her gaze. De Fleury sat as if the icefield had entered the room. He said, ‘I think you will have to say why.’
‘Because she didna trust you,’ said Bel. ‘And she didna trust Simon not to goad you, once you were fit to mix with others again. Matten’s not a maid with much sense, but Lucia talked to her. Lucia knew that you’d meet, and one of you would kindle the other, until Nicholas would take the revenge he planned all along. Of course, he never meant to spare Henry.’
‘You think that?’ de Fleury said.
‘She thought that,’ said Mistress Bel. ‘And that is all we are speaking of.’
‘So she was coming to plead,’ said de Fleury.
‘Lucia? No, my fine gentleman, no,’ said the woman. ‘She was coming to threaten. She had something to bargain with. She had something to tell you, or thought she had. If you took against Henry, Lucia would denounce your wife and St Pol here as wantons, and your coming child as conceived in his bed.’ She stared at de Fleury. ‘But perhaps you kent that already?’
Between the flaws, his skin was dazzling white, like a face painted for carnival. He said, ‘Ask Simon. Or count his scars, maybe.’
‘He knew,’ said Simon. It was painful to smile, but he didn’t mind. Suddenly, his tiredness was lifting. ‘I didn’t tell him. Monseigneur was rather anxious no one should tell him.’
‘But you wanted him to ken what you’d done,’ said the woman. ‘So ye did away with the vicomte’s own orders. Ye made it possible for Lucia to get out of Kilmirren. As she did.’
She was supposed to be on his side. ‘And so it’s all my fault? Hardly,’ said Simon. ‘She had a fancy, and couldn’t wait until