To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [236]
‘Yes, I know. It is a great honour. Jan, I came because of your mother. I know you will miss her so much. What are your brothers and sisters going to do?’ He kept his voice quiet. Under the chorusing, no one could hear them.
‘It means,’ Jan continued, ‘that for his lifetime, my father has power to govern and direct and administer law to the Scottish subjects in the dominions of Burgundy. He is allowed to tax staple wares for his salary, and can arrest anyone who won’t pay him. And all because of the way my father represented the nation of Scotland not only at the papal court and in Christian countries, but among the barbarous nations of the Saracens and the Turks. You represented nobody but yourself.’
‘Did it seem so? Then the misfortune was mine, in having no son who could write about it. Your father must be proud of you.’ He turned to Adorne. ‘And I dare say Jan has brought you the latest information from Rome. What of the papal Crusade?’ It was all he could think of to say. The song then being sung was not very papal, or welcome to a man still in mourning.
‘Your reports, I am sure, are as good as mine,’ said Adorne. ‘The combined fleets have presumably left for the East, your own ships among them. They will do what they can. The main assault, as you know, is next year. And the fund-raising legates have gone – Cardinal Bessarion towards France, and Cardinal Barbo to the Emperor Frederick, unfortunately for Jan.’
‘I heard,’ Nicholas said. ‘But Bishop Graham has found him a post?’
Jan Adorne opened his mouth. ‘Unfortunately,’ said his father, ‘the Bishop, although a good man, is receiving less support than he would like from King James. Or perhaps it is fortunate, for Jan is able to render him help so long as he stays in Rome. Once the Bishop goes home, Jan will have to seek other employment.’
‘Perhaps I can help,’ Nicholas said. ‘Or Lazzarino my agent, or Julius. Added, of course, to your own excellent circle of friends.’
‘The way you helped my mother and father?’ said Jan in a low voice. ‘My mother might be alive today, without the burden of the Earl and Countess of Arran all those months. My father thanked you for what you did for my cousins. What did you do? Betray my father’s ship to the Hanse, try to wreck it; have one cousin captured and take the other aboard and debauch her!’
‘Jan!’ said Adorne, also quietly. He had turned his back on his neighbours.
‘This is not the place,’ Nicholas said. ‘But I must speak for your cousin Katelijne. She came aboard to prevent us from fighting. She came immediately under the care of my chaplain, and stayed so. Her brother was never in danger of being captured. As for the device to rid myself of a pirate ship and a rival, I must claim that to be quite legitimate. Martin would have done the same in my place.’
‘A pirate ship!’ said Jan. His voice, properly scathing, disregarded a protest from his father. ‘The Hanse believe they are the only authority, but there are others more private. My father was sanctioned by the Bishop and Governor of Iceland.’
‘And I by the King of Scotland,’ said Nicholas dryly. ‘I fancy that my next cargo might even be permitted in Antwerp, under the circumstances.’
Jan looked at his father. After the first moment of surprise, Adorne’s lips produced a wry smile. He said, ‘My compliments. I believed my staff-work was good, but I see yours is better. You did well.’
‘But you got the sulphur. Martin is a very shrewd man,’ Nicholas said. ‘Although careless. He really should have checked what had become of Anselm and Katelijne. Where is Anselm?’
‘I hoped you would ask,’ Adorne said. He turned in his seat, opening the conversation again to the table. He called across. ‘Jehan: Nicholas is impatient to talk to my nephew.’
The solid cheeks of Jehan Metteneye quivered. ‘Patience! Patience! He will be here!’
There was a ripple of laughter. Nicholas put on a complaining face. ‘There is a secret. I am excluded.’ All the eminent faces were smiling but one. Louis de Gruuthuse, conveying an unspoken message. Nicholas acknowledged it equally silently.