The Four Horsemen by Gregory Dowling

Author:Gregory Dowling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

16

I returned home and decided to catch up on some sleep. It was not until mid-morning that I was again abroad. I was glad to see that the fog had still not lifted; this was a perfect day for a discreet visit to the Giudecca. And I decided I would ask Bepi to take me.

I had already had to tell him that I wouldn’t be able to go to Fusina the next day to look for English travellers, since there was no way I could fit in my half-job as cicerone with what was becoming my full-time job as agent. So the least I could do was offer him some hired work as my own gondolier. I just hoped he wouldn’t have already found someone else to replace me.

I walked across Saint Mark’s Square, glancing up at the four horses as I passed by. Their bronze bodies gleamed with a sleek lustre in the damp air. It was good to know they were watching over the city. People were making their way into the church for High Mass; the bells rang with a muffled solemnity through the fog. I promised myself that I would catch up with my devotions later that day.

Bepi fortunately was at his usual place at San Moisè; with the persistent fog he and his mates had moved inside their little wooden cabin by the canal. The dice clicked just as merrily indoors as outdoors.

He glanced towards me as I looked in through the doorway. “And so?” he said in his characteristic greeting.

“And so,” I said. “Even if we can’t go to Fusina tomorrow, would you take me out now? Usual rates?”

He got up and came towards the door to discuss it privately.

“Usual rates for a foreign visitor?” he said.

“Usual Venetian rates,” I said. “But a whole day’s worth.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “You paying?”

“Yes,” I said.

“And just you travelling?”

“That’s right,” I said. “Who were you thinking of?”

“No one,” he said. “Just I heard . . .”

“What?”

“People said you were moving with the nobility now.”

“What people?”

“Oh, you know . . .” He gestured to his companions behind us. They were all looking curiously at us.

“Did anyone say which branch of the nobility?” I said.

He stroked his chin and looked sideways at me. “Venier?”

“My goodness,” I said. “Word gets around very quickly.”

“The lady has a certain reputation,” he said.

“But how on earth did anyone . . .”

“Oh, nothing. It just seems you were one of the last to leave her salotto the other evening. One of my mates was working for the Tron family. He just mentioned it to me.”

“There’s no more to it than that,” I said. “She wanted to help me find a book I’d lost during the evening, and so she kept me a little later than the other guests.”

“Oh yes?”

“Yes,” I said firmly.

“If you say so,” he said. “So where do you want to go now?” He started walking towards his gondola.

“The Giudecca.”

“It’ll be tricky in this fog,” he said.

“Yes,” I agreed. “Though I don’t mind the fact that we won’t be noticed.

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