Barry Unsworth - The Ruby In Her Navel

He was silent for some moments while the pleasure these comparisons had caused him faded from his face. "Wilfred of Aachen," he said. "Wilfred of Aachen was for some years a monk at the monastery of Groze on the Moselle. Among the community there was Gerbert, who has had great advancement since and is soon to become the Pope's Rector at Benevento, a very important post, which is in the grant of the Roman Curia, but usually given to an Italian, not a German."

"Perhaps in his native place there are those to recommend him."

"Yes, perhaps so."

I had not told Yusuf of my meeting with Gerbert and his companions in the Royal Chapel, not thinking it of any importance, but I had told him of seeing Gerbert and Atenulf in close conversation together in the courtyard of the church of San Giovanni, and I think this was in his mind now, though he made no direct mention of it. "Perhaps it is so," he said again. "We will try to learn more of this prelate, I have the feeling that he will repay our scrutiny, also the archivist. It may be no more than chance, but there is the form of a triangle in it, and I have found that rarely comes by chance."

"A triangle?"

"Gerbert and Atenulf, Atenulf and Wilfred, Wilfred and Gerbert."

It seemed to me more in the nature of a circle, but I did not say so. "I see, yes. Well, as I have told you, lord, they were very unwilling to explain their purposes."

"Of course, you made it a matter of your own dignity, you did not declare you were acting on my orders."

"How did you know this, lord?"

"I did not exactly know it, but I know you, my fine fellow. Well, it makes no difference. They were expecting you to insist, whatever the reason. They would have been disappointed if you had not."

I stared at him. "Disappointed?"

"They knew well that Yusuf Ibn Mansur would require to know these things before releasing money through his own chancery."

"But if they knew it, why play these games?"

"It was not exactly a game, or at least not one that is played for amusement only. Think, Thurstan, my young man. Must I be for ever giving you lessons? These years with me and still lacking in suspicion? Or is it that your mind was on other things?"

As I looked at him now in silence, at a loss as to how to reply, it came to me that my mind had indeed been on other things and that this was something useless to speak of to Yusuf, he would never understand because he would never be seduced by his imagination. Perhaps Atenulf was cleverer than I had thought, cleverer than he wanted known. The gifted and versatile Spaventa, the demon-led traitor sawing at the chains, the King in his silver barge…

"You are full of duty," Yusuf said, "and you are careful to fulfil orders, and you are brave, but you are too open, too sunny, you must cultivate the flower of suspicion, which is a shade-loving plant. Many qualities serve us who serve the King, intelligence of deduction, instinct of the creature, wisdom of experience. But two things are essential above all others, and they are faithfulness and suspicion, and no amount of the one can make up for a lack in the other. Why the delay, why the reluctance? Come out of the sun and think."

"Yes, of course. By their seeming unwilling I would be the more likely to believe."

"Exactly. In this our world a readiness to speak is taken for the mark of the liar. You had paid a price, you see. You had asserted yourself against Atenulf's greater authority, you had insisted in face of his displeasure. We always value more what we have paid for, is it not so?

And the conclusion of all this?"

"If they wanted me so much to believe it…"

"It is the less likely to be true, yes. Good, we are coming closer. But we must not fall into the opposite error of supposing it to be false. It is in accord with Atenulf's care for the King's fame. We must simply keep in mind that the reason they have given may not be the true one."

"Then the money may be intended for some other purpose?"

"It is possible, yes. And since the payment is to be made through the accounts of our Office… you see?"

"Yes, I see well. We may be held to account for the use to which it is put."

"There were two of them. Why was Wilfred needed? As I understand from you, he did not take much part in it. But the oaths of two weigh against the oath of one, if it comes to swearing. We can be sure no one else has made public mention of this money or this mission. So it might in the end be made to seem that the purposes were ours from the beginning. And since we cannot know for certain what these purposes are…"

He paused at this and narrowed his eyes and thrust out his hands with the palms upwards, as if to receive some blessing or guidance from above. "Only God sees equally the hidden and the revealed. There are those who work against us, who would wish to see me discredited. We are watched by famished eyes, Thurstan, the eyes of wolves. They want me dead, but it is not only that: they want this Diwan. They would fall on it, dismember it, tear it limb from limb, sharing out the powers and prerogatives that belong to us and gorging on them. The Royal Diwan is not a monument, it is not like a castle with strong walls, it has no defence but the King's favour. Chanceries are born and die, they unite and divide, they come into being or cease to be at the will of the King – and those close to him. If our enemies succeed, the diwan al-tahqiq al-ma'mur will exist no more, not even as a memory. We must judge it safer now to break this money into smaller sums and find entries of an innocuous nature for them. Then silence will wrap round the money.

Silence is golden, as the proverb says. In this case not even the clink of the gold will be heard."

He smiled, as if pleased, but his eyes rested on mine, and I felt he was watching for the effect of his words. My faculty of suspicion, woefully inadequate as he had deemed it, was well roused now. Not Atenulf's powers of narration had lulled my mind: it was he, Yusuf, who had done it, by appearing to take seriously – even to be angered by – their withholding of the information, only to tell me on my return that he had not believed in it from the first. Why had he disarmed me thus in advance? To make some use of my ignorance that I was still too stupid to see? Once again I felt used by him, tricked by him. Why was he telling me what he proposed to do with the money? It was rare with him to confide his intentions in this way. He ran no risk – the accounting would be skilfully done as he knew well how. If he thought I had new masters, would he so confide in me? Perhaps he was testing me, perhaps he wanted me, for reasons I could not fathom, to make known to others these intentions of his.

Even as I smiled and nodded with a full air of comprehension, playing the part still that I had always played, of favoured pupil, the questions twisted through my mind. Amidst all perplexities, however, one thing had become very clear to me: I, Thurstan Beauchamp, was the one who would bear the purse and run the risk; there would be no record of the money anywhere, no one would admit to any knowledge of it; if anything miscarried while it was in my possession I would be in serious trouble. There and then, still meeting Yusuf's gaze with what firmness I could, I resolved that if I succeeded in delivering this money, from the moment of handing it over I would deny all knowledge of it in my turn, I would lend my name to no statement made by anyone about it, including Yusuf. I would be in Potenza as the King's purveyor, and for no other reason in the world.

Thus I denied my loyal support to Yusuf even before he claimed it. And when I remember that denial now, I cannot but think that it played its part in what came after. Not much more was said between us. As was his way, he warmed to me at parting, said he had heard of the great success of my singing coming after the great success of the dancers. "A night of successes," he said, and there was slyness in this, but no ill-nature.