The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [94]
The letter had been written, Gregorio judged, by a clerk of Simon’s and signed by him. Which meant that Simon at least was alive. It did not mention Nicholas de Fleury.
The news brought sadness, and a passing regret. To Diniz it meant more – after the loss of his father, Lucia was the only link with his happier childhood. But she had been a weak-natured, excitable woman, terrified of her father and hardly redeemed by her Portuguese marriage. After that, so far as Gregorio knew, she had done nothing that was not purely selfish. And Diniz, of course, had another protector and deity now.
After that, Gregorio counted the months and the days, and was unsurprised when news arrived that the roundship the Ghost had been sighted, and that Nicholas de Fleury would shortly be with them. It was the third week in February, and seven months and more had passed since his wedding.
There followed the hubbub that occurs in even the best-run establishment of bankers, dyers and merchants when the owner is about to descend on it. Gregorio handled it all, helped by Diniz Vasquez in mourning, whose pregnant wife Tilde was the stepdaughter of Nicholas de Fleury. He even enjoyed the assistance of Tilde’s unmarried young sister Catherine, currently attended by three different gallants.
One of them, who was related to Gelis, stopped calling. Nicholas, who had not been seen with his wife since their marriage, was not popular with her van Borselen kinsmen, who suspected that he had engineered her disappearance from society. No one dreamed that not even Nicholas knew where his wife of one half-night might be.
Public curiosity about the lady de Fleury’s whereabouts had attained a lower and more forgiving level. It had been known for other brides to hide their qualms during pregnancy. They generally reappeared a year after the wedding accompanied by a babe with a full set of teeth. The babe, however, was expected to look like the husband.
Now that the prospective father was due to return, public curiosity (by the same token) revived. Merchants who invested in the House of Niccolò had good cause, of course, to call on Meester Gregorio, and relish a cup of his Portuguese wine, and establish that they would appreciate, presently, an interview with Meester Nicholas himself.
Rivals were worse. Tommaso Portinari, affluent, dashing, the Duke of Burgundy’s chamberlain and manager of the Medici office in Bruges, announced his intention of riding to Sluys, the port of Bruges, and welcoming his old friend Claes in person. Diniz endorsed the idea, out of sheer inexperience and affection. ‘Why don’t we all go!’
Tommaso Portinari had been drunk throughout his last meeting with Nicholas de Fleury and might not therefore remember it. Unfortunately, Nicholas would.
Diniz Vasquez was a young, able man who should not have to meet the first onslaught of whatever the Ghost was to bring. Gregorio persuaded him to stay to welcome his patron at home. He persuaded everyone to stay except Tommaso. When he left for Sluys, Tommaso and his servants rode with him.
It was usual for the master of an important ship arriving in Sluys to invite on board those magnates who were waiting to welcome her. When the Ghost dropped her tattered sails in the harbour, mobbed by boats and with cannon speaking courteously from the castle, Crackbene himself came ashore in the lighter to bring Gregorio and the ducal chamberlain back to the vessel. Julius came with him.
Crackbene addressed Portinari. Julius seized Gregorio’s arm. ‘Well?’
‘Well what? You have all my news. What about Nicholas?’
‘Oh, he’s gone off his head,’ said Julius happily. ‘You heard about Simon and Lucia? And young Henry did his utmost to murder him. We weren’t allowed to write