white fur—had she brought a bear to share my cell? Her smile had more charm than teeth, and she handed me the bundle, so heavy it made me stagger.
“For you. The archduke—he wants,” she choked in her weird voice, bowed and left.
I examined what I held. Was it a coverlet to keep me warm at night? No, it had sleeves and a hood—it was a coat, of white fur, the like of which I had never seen. Thankfully I snuggled into it and felt the difference at once. I blessed whatever monstrous mountain creature had shed its skin for me.
I danced a little twirling jig so the pelts swung around my legs, and I was warm at last. The scenes of the faithless maid and her two lovers wheeled around me in a colored mass. Then I stopped at once, as if stunned.
I had not heard the key turn back again.
Heart thumping, I turned the iron ring of the door handle. It turned silently, the latch lifted. I could have kissed the goodwife who had brought the coat. I was free.
I drew up the hood of my new gift. Since no one had seen me wearing it, perhaps it would give me a little anonymity, although it certainly would not conceal me from the eye, as it was white as milk. I descended down the passages and steps I remembered, to the hall of the Giants, by virtue of the paintings I had remembered on the walls. The door was guarded by two surly soldiers.
Shit.
So I turned on my heel and climbed up the stairs again. I made a few turns to find the chamber I thought would be above the great hall, and here my luck improved. A chamber, empty, with candles burning. Painted, as the rest of the place, but this time with scenes of devotion. It was a chapel.
I closed the oaken doors and looked about me. Here once again I was assisted by the ancient building. Drafts whistled up through boards along with snatches of conversation. I knelt as if in prayer and applied my ear to a crack in the planks as long as an oar. Voices were raised—my mother’s and the archduke’s too—which helped me hear all.
My mother first. “And yet you market through Venice to Alexandria, to Tunis, to India . . .”
The archduke: “Precisely, Dogaressa. We market through Venice. Our treaty states that we will use your port and your port only, your ships. I see no reason for such niceties to cease . . . afterward. Then, too, you have the treaty ratified by my cousin Hapsburg, the guarantee of safe passage through these mountains, the emperor’s own seal upon it that there will be no attack on the Seven from the Hapsburg lands. We have repaid our debt many times over. Yet this matter of the angel is another issue.”
“The golden angel has been circulating in England for more than twenty years, with great benefits to commerce. Regulation can only strengthen trade.” My mother’s voice, lively with argument.
“That is so; I don’t think we have ever been in dispute over the matter. Is he entirely decided upon the weights and measures?”
“Our understanding is that the fineness would be that of his own florin. Or our own Mocenigo.”
“Ah, yes, the Mocenigo. Your family stamp. I am sure that is what you would prefer. Yet I was thinking back a little further, to the fourth Crusade. To your forebear, Doge Enrico Dandolo. For did he not set the standard for the grosso? War costs, and peace is even dearer. This enterprise upon which we embark will be dearly bought. Now that we crusade again, shall we not strike an equivalent?”
My mother’s voice, raised now. “A grosso? Surely you jest. The standard of the grosso was 124 soldi. Are you seriously suggesting an angel of this weight? Venice does not have the seam!”
The archduke’s voice, calm, quiet, assured, infinitely powerful. “Venice does not. I do.”
A pause. “In truth?” My mother, a little awed.
“I have my own standard here, you know.”
“I do know, not for nothing are you known as der Münzreiche.” My mother, flattering now.
“Indeed. Then you should know that I can underwrite that side of the bargain, for these mountains are richer than even Solomon could ask. Yet our request from you, ratified by our mutual friend, is that, as you know, we will borrow your own expertise in this area. For the overheads are considerable. Assaying, casting, cutting blanks, stamping. Will