The Accursed Kings Series Books 1-3: The Iron King, The Strangled Queen, The Poisoned Crown. Maurice Druon

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СКАЧАТЬ was given Artois so that Franche-Comté should revert to the Crown through her daughter. But if there were any justice in the world, I should be a peer of the realm and the richest baron in France! And I shall be, do you hear me Tolomei, I shall be!’

      And he banged the table with his enormous fist.

      ‘My dear fellow, I sincerely hope so,’ said Tolomei, still perfectly calm. ‘But in the meantime you’ve lost your case.’

      He had discarded his episcopal manners and was a great deal more familiar with Artois than he had been with the Archbishop.

      ‘Nevertheless, I’ve received the County of Beaumont-le-Roger, and an income of five thousand pounds, as well as the castle of Conches in which I live,’ replied the giant.

      ‘Certainly,’ said the banker. ‘But that has not paid me back. Rather the contrary.’

      ‘I haven’t yet succeeded in getting paid. The Treasury owes me for several years in arrears.’

      ‘Of which you’ve borrowed the greater part from me. You needed money to repair the roof of Conches and the stables.’

      ‘They had been burnt down,’ said Robert.

      ‘Very well. And then you needed money to maintain your partisans in Artois.’

      ‘What should I do without them? It’s through them, Fiennes and others, that one day I shall win my case, arms in hand if necessary. And then, Messer Banker, tell me …’

      And the giant changed his tone, as if he had had enough of playing the part of a rebuked schoolboy. He took the banker’s robe between his thumb and forefinger, and began slowly pulling him to his feet.

      ‘Tell me this. You paid for my costs, my stables and all the rest of it, of course you did, but haven’t you been able to do a very satisfactory deal or two because of me? Who told you that the Templars were about to be arrested, and advised you to borrow money from them which you never had to pay back? Who told you about the debasing of the currency, which permitted you to lay out all your gold in merchandise and re-sell it for twice the amount? Well, who did that for you?’

      For Tolomei, obeying a tradition which still exists in high banking circles, had informers who were close to the councils of state, and his principal informer was Robert of Artois who was the friend and close companion of Charles of Valois, who told him everything.

      Tolomei disengaged himself, smoothed out the crease in his robe, smiled and, his left eye closed, replied, ‘I grant it, Monseigneur, I grant it. You have sometimes given me useful information. But, alas!’

      ‘Alas, what?’

      ‘Alas! The profits I have been able to make through you are very far from covering the advances I have made you.’

      ‘Is that true?’

      ‘It is,’ said Tolomei with the most innocent air in the world.

      He was lying, and was sure of being able to do so with impunity, for Robert of Artois, though clever in intrigue, understood very little about accountancy.

      ‘Oh!’ said the latter, vexed.

      He scratched the stubble on his chin and meditatively shook his head.

      ‘All the same, when I think of the Templars … You ought to be pretty pleased this morning, eh?’ he asked.

      ‘Yes and no, Monseigneur; yes and no. For a long time they have done our business no harm. Who is going to be attacked next? Is it to be us, us Lombards, as we’re called. Dealing in gold is not an easy business. And without us nothing could be done. But by the way,’ Tolomei went on, ‘has Monsieur de Valois said anything to you about another change in the value of the Paris pound, as I hear is proposed?’

      ‘No,’ said Artois who was following his own line of thought. ‘But this time I’ve got Mahaut. I’ve got Mahaut because I hold her daughters and her niece in the hollow of my hand. And I’m going to strangle them … crack! … like that!’

      Hatred hardened his features and made him almost good-looking. He had moved nearer to Tolomei once more. The latter was thinking, ‘This man, due to his obsession, is capable of almost anything. Anyway, I’ve made up my mind to lend him another five hundred pounds – though he does smell of game.’ Then he said, ‘How have you done this?’

      Robert of Artois lowered his voice. His eyes were bright.

      ‘The little sluts have got lovers,’ he said, ‘and last night I found out who they are. But, not a word, eh! I don’t want anybody to know – yet.’

      The Siennese grew thoughtful. He had already heard the story, but had not believed it.

      ‘What good can it do you?’ he asked.

      ‘Good?’ cried Artois. ‘Listen, banker, can’t you imagine the scandal? The future Queen of France caught like a whore with her coxcombs. There’ll be a row, they’ll be repudiated! The whole family of Burgundy will be plunged up to the neck in the midden, Mahaut will lose all credit at Court, their inheritance will no longer be within reach of the Crown; I shall reopen my case and win it!’

      He was walking to and fro and the boards and furnishings vibrated.

      ‘And are you proposing to explode the scandal?’ asked Tolomei. ‘You’ll find the King …’

      ‘No, Messer, not I. I should not be listened to. But there’s someone else, much better placed to do it, who is not in France. And this is the second thing I came to ask you for. I need a sure man who can take a message secretly to England.’

      ‘To whom?’

      ‘To Queen Isabella.’

      ‘Ah! so that’s it,’ murmured the banker.

      There followed a silence in which could be heard the noises from the street, the hawkers offering their wares.

      ‘It is indeed true that Madame Isabella is said not to like her sisters-in-law of France overmuch,’ said Tolomei at last. He had no need to hear more to understand how Artois had set about his plot. ‘You’re very much her friend, I believe, and you were over there a few days ago?’

      ‘I came back last Friday, and got to work at once.’

      ‘Why don’t you send a man of your own to Madame Isabella, or perhaps a courier of Monseigneur of Valois’s?’

      ‘In this country, where everyone watches everyone else, all my men are known, as are Monseigneur’s. The whole business might easily be compromised. I thought a merchant, and particularly a merchant whom one can trust, would be more suitable. You have many agents travelling for you. Moreover, the message will have nothing in it that need cause the bearer any anxiety.’

      Tolomei looked the giant in the eyes, meditated a moment, and then rang the bronze bell.

      ‘I shall endeavour to render you service once again,’ he said.

      The hangings parted and the young man, who had shown the Archbishop out, reappeared. The banker presented him, ‘Guccio Baglioni, my nephew, who has but recently СКАЧАТЬ