To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [331]
‘Apparently not,’ Margot said. ‘I think they might even have wanted him to stay. I think we should be glad he has come back.’
‘I don’t know,’ Gelis said. ‘There are generally rich pickings to be had from a power struggle, if you don’t mind the risks. But I expect he wanted to come home to us all, as you say.’
After that, everyone in the Casa seemed to know that the padrone was at last on his way, having reported to the Minor Consiglio on the tragic death of Queen Catherine’s husband. The Palace itself had confirmed it. Sadly wild, as everyone knew, the young man had apparently indulged himself on a hot day while hunting, and had succumbed to an attack of the flux.
The travellers arrived. Mistress Clémence, standing in her employer’s hall, released Jodi, freshly dressed, to be crushed by his father and was pleased to observe Dr Tobias crossing to greet her. She said, ‘It has been an unpleasant business for you all.’
‘We shall all be the better for being at home,’ the doctor said.
She followed his eyes. Instead of commenting, she said, ‘You must have met with the flux often enough in the battlefield.’
‘Well enough to know it,’ he said.
She studied him. She said, ‘So they let you treat the King? They must know your reputation.’
‘Eventually,’ he said. ‘But it was too late.’ He paused and said, ‘The padrone and he knew each other well.’
‘I can see that,’ she said. ‘The child will cheer him. I heard the Queen of Cyprus was near to her time?’
‘I doubt if it will cheer her,’ he said.
Nicholas was back, not in the autumn, but in August. Gelis, too, saw all that the others saw in his face, and felt the alteration at once, as he greeted her. Invariably, in the first moments of every fresh meeting, he showed his awareness of her, even if expressed by contradictory emotions like anger. Now, for the first time, he seemed indifferent.
She was given no opportunity to question him. A ceremonial supper had been arranged, attended by all the gentlemen of the factory. Afterwards, in the relative privacy of Gregorio’s parlour, Tobie appeared intent on wresting Nicholas from the company. Gelis raised her voice.
‘Before you go! Mistress Clémence is sure to ask me your plans. Are you leaving to rejoin Astorre?’
‘No,’ said Nicholas. ‘The French war has stopped, for the moment. All the interesting events seem to be occurring along the Duke’s frontier with Germany. I shall probably follow Julius to Augsburg, and then try to seek out Duke Charles.’
‘And Mistress Clémence?’ Gelis said. ‘Or are children not permitted in Germany?’
He knew, of course, that this was not about Jordan. It was about whether the careful plan had been changed, and she might come to him now, rather than later.
He said, ‘Margot says you have grown to like Venice. Why not stay for a further few weeks, and then join me?’
She couldn’t tell whether he meant it. Gregorio sat, his arm round Margot, placidly awaiting her answer. Tobie glared. Gelis burned with frustration. She said, ‘I don’t mind. Jodi might: he has been practising hard on the water-hens. Must you hurry away? What exactly happened on Cyprus?’
He looked at her. His eyes were darkened, like Tobie’s, and he had been drinking nothing but water. She had asked the question out of pure devilment; she was taken aback when he replied with subdued violence.
‘Exactly? Zacco died, but I didn’t. I was abducted, not very tenderly, and left without food or water, and chained. I not only survived, but I wasn’t there when Zacco fell ill. You have no idea what good fortune that was. Princes envied me.’
Gregorio said sharply, ‘You didn’t tell us! Who did it? Nicholas, was Zacco poisoned? By the Venetians?’
‘Probably.’
‘And you were abducted to get you out of the way?’
‘Oh no,’ Nicholas said. ‘I was abducted by someone paid by David de Salmeton, who hoped to extort a ransom for me which would disable the Bank.’
‘But you escaped?’ Gelis said.
‘I escaped. And de Salmeton was caught and imprisoned.