Leonardo and the Death Machine by Robert J. Harris

Author:Robert J. Harris [ROBERT J HARRIS ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007375318
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

16 THE DOOR TO THE UNIVERSE

They had no trouble finding Toscanelli’s house. It reared up above the surrounding rooftops like a stony finger pointed emphatically at the heavens.

Sandro had borrowed a splendid red coat from one of his brothers and over this he wore a jewelled amulet of his mother’s. “Remember to let me do all the talking,” he warned. “This is a very distinguished scholar who has no time for riff-raff. I will take on the role of a fine gentleman, and you will be my servant.”

“Your servant?”

“Dressed like that, what else could you possibly be?”

Sandro yanked on the bell pull. After a few moments an elderly woman opened the door the merest crack.

“Well?” she demanded suspiciously.

“I am here to see the noble Maestro Paolo da Pozzo Toscanelli,” Sandro announced grandly. He was being so grand he did not even look at the woman when he spoke to her.

“Is he expecting you?” the woman asked. She did not sound impressed.

“In a manner of speaking,” Sandro answered – not so convincingly, in Leonardo’s view. “The wise man expects everything in advance, no matter how unexpected it may be.”

“He knows you, does he?” the woman inquired.

“Are you casting doubt upon the breadth of his knowledge?” Sandro countered. “How could he not know me?”

The woman frowned and mumbled to herself. “I suppose you had better come in,” she conceded. “Perhaps the master will know what you’re talking about.”

She opened the door, admitting them to a reception hall from which a stairway ascended to the upper reaches of the house. “Wait here while I inform the master of your arrival,” she said. “By the way, who are you?”

“Tell him the noted artist Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi is here on a matter of great importance,” Sandro instructed her.

Leonardo groaned inwardly. He had never heard Sandro use his proper name before and it sounded very pompous.

The woman started stiffly up the stairway. As soon as she was out of sight, Leonardo rounded on his friend. “Did you really have to talk such rubbish?”

“It got us in here, didn’t it?” Sandro retorted. “Besides, you need to remember that I am the master here. I’ll thank you to show me some respect.”

A long time dragged by before the servant reappeared and beckoned them to follow her upstairs. She took them to an upper room and left them there. It was a library, the walls lined with books and scrolls. On a desk there were sheets of parchment covered with rows of figures. Beside them lay an assortment of mathematical instruments, interlocking wheels and elaborate brass dials.

“You see, we’ve come to the right place,” Sandro observed with satisfaction. “This is a man of knowledge. Look, he has the works of Aristotle, Strabo, Ptolemy.”

“Yes, I’m sure they’re all good friends of his,” said Leonardo distractedly.

A door opened and a tall, elderly man entered the room. Below his wide brow a long, hooked nose overshadowed his rounded lips. From his slight chin a narrow beard curled down to his chest like a silver ribbon.

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