Niccolo Rising (84 page)

“He’s dead,” said Nicholas. “What’s all this about Astorre and a new contract?”

He got his answer, but didn’t really go on to force Tobie to talk about business, when there were much more interesting things to discuss. Nicholas himself sat listening, as usual these days, instead of saying very much. But, immersed in a bath of news and gossip, Julius sat chatting with the other two straight through the noon break, stopping only for visitors. People called at the house all the time to offer sympathy to Felix’s mother. And after they’d seen Felix’s mother, they walked through all the time to open the office door and speak to Felix’s friends.

They’d already had visits from Sersanders and John Bonkle and Colard Mansion (to ask about Godscalc) and even Tommaso Portinari, who had hardly been in Felix’s circle but who seemed to be experiencing an unwilling compulsion to cultivate Nicholas. He’d asked Nicholas all about the joust and the battle at San Fabiano, and Nicholas had told him.

The friends of Felix, Julius noticed, didn’t seem to blame Nicholas for what had happened, but were privately very keen to hear all about the fighting. Having been told so often, Nicholas’ account had acquired a rather truncated form, but Julius was able to add to it. He had also a lot of very good stories about Sarno. He found it all rather stimulating and was a little ashamed. But after all, the dead shouldn’t be forgotten. One should talk about them.

He did, to Lorenzo Strozzi, who called just after Tobie had arrived. Lorenzo wanted news of his brother in Naples, and to be reassured that King Ferrante would stay on his throne and the Strozzi business would be safe. Julius, as an equally anxious depositor, gave Lorenzo what
tidings he could, but few reassurances. Lorenzo then began to talk about the meanness of the Strozzi in Bruges, and how the expanding Charetty company must be looking for bright young factors. When no one followed up this line of conversation, he reverted to talking about Felix. Nicholas told him about the battle. Lorenzo began, at last, to take his leave. At the door he said, looking at Nicholas, “I owe you something for getting that bird back.”

For a moment, Nicholas looked entirely blank. Then he said, “The ostrich? Where is it?”

On Lorenzo’s gloomy face there spread a rare grin. “Tommaso has it,” he said. “They fed it on shellfish in Brittany. It arrived in a very poor state, and he’s trying to get it well enough to cross the Alps before winter. I got paid for it.”

“Good,” said Nicholas.

“Is that all?” said Julius as the door closed. “According to Loppe, Felix told him some story …”

“Yes, I know. Let Tobie finish what he was saying first.”

So Tobie resumed his discourse, but was still in the middle when they all had to get up because the door had opened on Giovanni Arnolfini, the Lucca silk merchant, who had brought some black velvet for the demoiselle. A gift from the most serene and excellent Dauphin to console the sorrowing mother for the loss of her gallant young son.

They talked about Felix, and Nicholas explained about the battle. After Arnolfini had gone, Tobie looked at Nicholas and said, “Why don’t you lock that God-forsaken door?”

Gregorio said, “Because the work bell’s just going to sound, and we rather want all the clerks to get in. I haven’t had any food yet. Shall we take Meester Tobias and see what we can find? If the demoiselle can be persuaded to excuse us all?”

Nicholas said, “You three go. I’ll tell her. I’ll see you all later,” and got up and left. And Tobie and Gregorio, who didn’t know each other, exchanged glances again.

In the tavern, they had the room to themselves because they were late. It was an inn Julius had known for a long time, and he got them to spread the board with food in the doctor’s honour, and add as much good Rhenish wine as he could drink. Though in the end, Tobie didn’t drink all that much, but requested instead a complete account of why Jaak de Fleury had come to Bruges, and what had happened to him.

At the finish, he sat for a moment, and then swallowed a lot of wine all at once. He said, “And how has Bruges taken that? Do they blame Nicholas?”

“Blame him!” said Julius. “He’s redeemed himself at last. You won’t remember. He never stood up to anyone. And now that he and the demoiselle …”

Gregorio said, rather quickly, “The merchants have come to accept
the marriage as well. Nicholas has a good standing. Enough to do all he wants in the way of business.”

Tobie, without paying attention, was still looking at Julius, who could feel himself flushing. Tobie said, “I see. And what does he want to do? Has he told you yet?”

Julius said, “Well, it’s hardly a matter, yet, of Nicholas running the business. Once the alum sanction is through, I dare say we shall all be asked to help plan for the future. All I can tell you is that we might be raising two squadrons more for Astorre next season, now we have all the extra weapons and money for equipment. I suppose they’ll ask you to go back as his surgeon, if they haven’t already. The dyeshop will stay under the demoiselle, but the credit side, and the property, including things like Felix’s wine tavern, will be looked after by Gregorio and myself and perhaps expanded.”

“And Nicholas himself?” said Tobie.

Julius said, “Well, there’s the courier service. That’s getting well established, with a good team. He’ll run it mainly from Bruges, but do some of the riding himself between Bruges and Milan to keep in touch with the Milan side. I dare say he thinks you can help too, if you’re to be in Italy with Astorre.”

He stopped and looked at Gregorio, but Gregorio didn’t seem to want to add anything. Tobie said, “And that’s all he’s talked about? Nothing about ships, or setting up branches abroad, or going into trading in silk?”

“
Ships!
” said Julius.

Gregorio said, “No. Nothing about any of that. But of course, there’s been a lot to arrange and overhaul these last days. As Julius was saying, there hasn’t been a meeting yet to plan anything. The demoiselle probably wanted to wait until you were here. And the alum sanction had come through. I’ve certainly had the impression …” He hesitated.

“What?” said Tobie.

“That Nicholas is waiting for something,” said Gregorio.

“And you’re not worried?”

Julius said, “What about?”

“About the future of the business, of course,” the doctor said. He tore bits off his pheasant and put them all in his mouth with one hand, tidily. He said, “Felix was the nominal head. He’s gone. The demoiselle is the legal head. She’s a good, capable woman, but an affair this size is beyond her. Until the two daughters marry, who runs the Charetty company?”

Gregorio said, “I should have thought it was fairly obvious. The same people who together will be running the alum venture. The three of us, together with Nicholas. Except that Nicholas, being the demoiselle’s husband, has the strongest position.”

“He certainly couldn’t do it without us,” said Julius.

“Couldn’t he?” said Tobie. “I’ve been thinking of all I’ve seen of
friend Nicholas. I listened to the demoiselle talking about the business today. I don’t think that Nicholas needs us to run anything. He needs us to help him, that’s all. Whether we like it or not, Nicholas is the master of the Charetty company. So how does that strike you? Is he the sort of person you want to work under?”

It was exactly what had been worrying Julius. He said slowly, “I know what you mean. He’s young.”

Tobie said, “He’s just under twenty years old. That’s up to ten years younger than the oldest of us. It means that, gifted as he is, he has no experience.”

“We can supply that,” said Gregorio. He was watching Tobie closely.

“And he’ll accept it,” said Tobie. “He’s good at taking advice. And he’s good at management. He’s won the goodwill of everyone who has ever beaten him, by being cheerful, placid, long-suffering, and, above all, by bearing no grudges. It makes him attractive to work with. For me, it would make him attractive to work for. But I’ve begun to wonder about this submissive role. Is it genuine?”

Julius grinned. He said, “Have you seen Nicholas putting up with a beating? It’s genuine.”

“Oh, he puts up with it, at the time,” Tobie said. “But what if he doesn’t immediately forget it, as you seem to think? What if every slight, every punishment is being quietly registered, because he is really a different sort of person altogether?”

“I’ve wondered,” said Gregorio.

“Yes. So have I,” said Tobie. “Is he what he seems? And then, from wondering, I started to notice things. The chief being this: whom friend Nicholas dislikes, it seems to me, friend Nicholas kills.”

Julius stopped eating. Gregorio said, “Yes. I think we should talk about it.”

The warm weather had brought in all the flies. Julius batted them away, and untied and flung off his jacket and unhooked the top of his doublet and turned to Tobie and said, “
Now
what are you talking about?”

The doctor laid down the bone he had finished and, splashing his fingers in the water bowl, scrubbed his hands clean on his napkin. Then he pushed his plate away and collected his wine cup in both hands. He said, “Jaak de Charetty and Lionetto.”

Julius gazed at him. He felt angry and breathless at the same time. He said, “That’s ridiculous. What are you blaming Nicholas for? He killed two servants who were trying to kill him. He didn’t kill Lionetto, and he didn’t kill de Fleury although, by God, he had every reason to. What he did do is free Bruges – and the company – of the lot of them.”

Tobie said, “I’m not saying for a moment that the people he hurts don’t deserve to be hurt. Or most of them. I’m talking about building puzzles and creating ciphers and laying trails and then sitting back while other people explode them.”

Tobie picked up his wine, took a hard swallow, and put it down smartly. He sent his eyes round both Julius and Goro.

Tobie said, “Let’s take Lionetto. I don’t like Lionetto. Lionetto, incidentally, abused Nicholas too, during the flood in the tavern. And then, later, he forced a fight with Astorre, and Nicholas found himself one of the contestants, and all but died. So we may suppose Nicholas doesn’t like Lionetto very much either. So you would think Nicholas would be glad to hear that Lionetto was fighting on the other side in the Naples war, under Piccinino.”

“He wasn’t,” said Gregorio, “I remember when the news came that Piccinino had changed to the other side. Nicholas didn’t like it. But he wouldn’t tell me why.”

“Because he didn’t care what Piccinino did,” Tobie said. “But he wanted Lionetto on our side. So much that when the Pope sent bribery money to Milan, Nicholas asked me to try to persuade the Duke to use some of it to tempt Lionetto away from Piccinino. I did, and he came back to the Milanese side.”

“Why should Nicholas want Lionetto on our side?” said Julius.

“That’s what I wondered,” said Tobie. “Then I began to wonder where Lionetto was putting all this gold he was getting for bribes. And guess what?”

“He used to bank with the Medici,” said Julius. “I remember in Geneva that Nicholas joked with the Medici about Lionetto’s glass jewels.”

“And encouraged Jaak de Fleury to yearn for Lionetto’s future deposits,” said Tobie. “Of course, Jaak de Fleury knew how lucrative a soldier’s business could be. He’d been handling captain Astorre’s money for a long time. Until, that is, Nicholas came along.”

Julius said, “Nicholas?” But he was already remembering. He said, “In Milan. Astorre transferred his business to the Medici because they offered him amazingly low rates.” He paused. “But how could Nicholas influence the Medici?”

Tobie said, “Nicholas had the Medici in the palm of his hand. He makes and breaks ciphers. He’s an informer. There’s a limit to what the Medici would do for him, but offering low rates to a mercenary captain to capture his trade is well within them. So Astorre’s money was safe, and Lionetto, despising his enemy and courted by de Fleury, transferred his money in turn to Maffino. M. Jaak’s agent in Milan. Nicholas was quite relieved when it happened. He checked specially on his way through Milan. He told me.”

Gregorio spoke. He said, “So that Lionetto would be ruined when Jaak de Fleury went bankrupt?”

“So that Jaak de Fleury would become bankrupt,” said Tobie. “Jaak de Fleury was the target. Lionetto was only the buffer that set the missile off at the right angle.”

Was it possible? Julius sat staring at him. Jaak, who had shamed and
abused the child Nicholas and the grown Nicholas. Could he have planned such a revenge?

Gregorio said, “You didn’t say why Nicholas wanted Lionetto on our side, and not the enemy’s.”

Tobie’s pale eyes turned to Julius, and then back to Gregorio. His short, pink mouth looked sulky. He said, “So that he could betray him. Lionetto is French. All anyone would have to do to ruin Lionetto is to get word to France that Lionetto is fighting for the opposition, and has a large sum of money salted away with a disloyal firm in Geneva. The King of France doesn’t have to set out to ruin Thibault and Jaak de Fleury. All he has to do is confiscate Lionetto’s huge deposit, and the house of Fleury fails automatically.”

Julius said, “You’re implying that Nicholas thought of that. How could –”

“Nicholas not only thought of it, he arranged it,” said Tobie. “He needed a third party to tell the King of France about Lionetto, so he thought of Savoy. Remember the avalanche in the Alps? It wasn’t planned. I saw the idea come into Nicholas’ head. He saw the monk was going to shout, and encouraged him. A piece of childishness he came to regret. But back in the hospice he’d been collecting gossip. And I’d swear that he knew that among that party of English was an officer of the Dauphin, the King of France’s son and worst enemy.

“Nicholas and M. Gaston du Lyon met and talked then. They would have contrived to talk, I’m sure, even without the avalanche. They met again in Milan – I was there. M. Gaston was supposed to be interested in the Charetty courier service on behalf of his master. In fact, of course, the Dauphin would be hoping to buy information. And Nicholas would have it to sell, or perhaps barter. If in return, for example, the Dauphin would help betray Lionetto to France through the Dauphin’s Savoy connections.