To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [79]
It was put as a question. Perceived as an answer, the implication took away speech. ‘Hesdin was an accident,’ Kathi observed at length.
‘Hesdin was an accident, deeply regretted. Here is Jodi and this is where we must leave you. Beyond the door is the courtyard, and the archway leads direct to the garden.’
‘Thank you,’ said Katelijne. The nurse inclined her head and retired, the child racing ahead. She had not expected her to smile; in that one discreetly contrived meeting, Clémence de Coulanges had conveyed and gathered all that either of them needed to know. Her mind thronged, Kathi walked down the stepped slope from the mansion.
She had met the adult Gelis van Borselen only twice: the last time on that fraught night in Venice. Since then, so far as was known, Gelis had kept silence about the whole episode. The initial fault, after all, had been hers. And Kathi’s part in uniting M. de Fleury with his son had been less, on the whole, than that played by the lawyer Gregorio and Margot now his wife, or by the doctor, Tobias.
She was prepared then for civilised behaviour. She was unprepared for a young woman she hardly recognised as Gelis van Borselen seated under the trees, lightly gowned in the warm autumn air, her fair hair parted over her shoulders. Archie of Berecrofts was sitting beside her.
He scrambled to his feet. ‘Kathi! I thought you were bringing the parrot. ‘
‘I did. Robin and Jordan can teach it together. Unless you mind?’ She smiled down at the pretty woman below her.
Gelis van Borselen said, ‘Not at all. The parrot seems to have become an integral part of our lives. Come and sit. I am told Nicholas expects to be here. We have been talking about this prodigious Play he is evolving for Christmas. Will your uncle be here in time? Perhaps he or your cousin will act in it.’
Kathi sat on the rug beside Archie. ‘He should be here, but I don’t think he’d take part. Jan isn’t coming. He has to get back to Rome.’
‘And the Earl and Countess of Arran?’ said the other woman.
‘No one knows. But you’ve heard that the second Boyd baby is born, a daughter this time?’
‘Just as weel,’ said Archie cheerfully. He picked up a well-riddled apple and tossed it. ‘A wheen too many knaves round the Scots throne already. Is Nicholas directing the Play? I thought he’d got Tom Cochrane over from Beltrees.’
‘He has,’ Gelis said. ‘And another man, his factor in Renfrewshire. Oliver. Oliver Semple?’
‘You haven’t met him?’ said Kathi. ‘But you’ve been to your castle at Beltrees? M. de Fleury has taken you?’
‘Not yet,’ Gelis said. Her eyes, of a very clear blue, held a look of perpetual amusement. ‘Should he? Is it worth seeing?’
‘It ought to be,’ said Archie. ‘No, that would be clyping.’
‘Go on,’ said Kathi. ‘Tell her.’
‘It’s a fine, ample tower,’ said Archie, obeying good-naturedly. ‘Theiked with skaillie, and lined with panelled joined work throughout. Nicholas saw to the building, but left Govaerts to manage the gear. Cochrane put up a scheme, and a neighbour-woman offered to help him. Bel. Bel of Cuthilgurdy. You know her?’
Bel had been in Africa with Gelis and M. de Fleury. Gelis said, ‘Yes, I know her. And so?’
Archie said, ‘So Bel and Cochrane got the notion they were outfitting Cafaggiolo. When Govaerts was sent all the bills, he thought the Bank would have to sell up to pay them. I never heard what Nicholas said when he found out. But you ought to see it. And the wee fellow would like it just fine.’
‘Go and see it,’ Katelijne said. ‘If M. de Fleury won’t take you, we shall. Or Master Cochrane. There’s a lake, and meadows and hills. It’s a beautiful place.’
‘Oh, I know the district,’ said Gelis. Beneath her smiling gaze, Kathi fell temporarily silent. Of course she did. It was close to the home of Jordan de Ribérac and Simon his son. Kilmirren was at present unoccupied, but it was not hard to imagine why Nicholas de Fleury had not encouraged his wife to return west.
But that was behind them, or should be. Kathi said, ‘Go to Beltrees. Take Jordan. Get M. de Fleury to go.’
‘And become a country