“So, you trust Mr. Baldini completely, do ye?”
“I never said so.”
Brewster grunted something but said no more.
It was little over a mile to the inn and both of us were flagging when we reached it. I bade the landlord send for a surgeon and he sent a boy running off on the errand.
Not long later, a small man with eyes set rather too far apart in his narrow face, appeared. He shut himself with Brewster and me in Brewster’s chamber, examining the broad arm Brewster presented him.
The man spoke no English, but he let us know through gestures and the rudimentary Italian I understood that the arm was not broken, only badly sprained. Brewster, with his knowledge of pugilists’ injuries, concurred.
The surgeon expertly bound up the arm and left Brewster a concoction to drink for the pain. Brewster was reluctant to take the remedy, but I stood over him until he downed it. I knew he was in more agony than he wanted to let on.
The surgeon grinned at me and held his hand out for a fee. He nodded after I’d dropped several coins into his palm, then departed.
The drink soon had Brewster snoring. I made certain his arm was resting where it wouldn’t be jostled, covered him with warm blankets, and left the room.
Outside, the boy who’d run for the surgeon waited for me.
“You are to come, Signor.”
“Come where?” I asked in trepidation. Had Grenville been found? “Did Signor Baldini send word?”
The lad, who had more English than the adults in this tavern, shook his head. “You are to come,” he said. “I lead you right.”
He grabbed my sleeve and dragged me out of the inn, into the gathering night.
Chapter11
The lad would not tell me where he was taking me no matter how often I asked. I decided to save my breath, and also my strength, in case I needed it to fend off yet another attack.
We wound through the narrow streets of the village and out into open country. The moon had appeared tonight, glittering hard on the bay, its cold light contrasting to the warm glow of the boy’s small lantern.
I had to walk quickly to keep up with the lad, who occasionally slowed to wait impatiently for me.
“This way,” he’d urge.
He led me up a hill into which steps had been cut. At the top was a grove of trees, and among these trees a gate, which the boy easily wrenched open.
I had no idea where I was, though I could see lights far to the north of me, which I assumed was Napoli or other towns along the bay. The gate led to a gloomy path that I was reluctant to walk.
Again, the boy caught my sleeve and pulled me onward.
The lane was paved with brick and meandered through the trees, which cut out the moonlight. If the lad hadn’t kept his hold on me, I’d have lost my way or tripped in the darkness, despite the tiny glow of his lantern.
We emerged from the grove, moonlight illuminating all once more, and I halted in surprise.
I stood before a villa. Its tall, pale walls were punctuated with windows at irregular intervals, shutters covering any light that might leech from behind them. Urns bore plants that twined their way around the doorway and up to a balcony on the next floor.
The lad seized an iron knocker and banged on the door, paint chips flying to land in the gravel at our feet.
The door was yanked open by a tall retainer, the glow of candlelight spilling out around him. The lad indicated me with both hands then held out one palm imperiously. He jiggled impatiently from foot to foot until the retainer had dropped a coin to him. The boy instantly closed his fingers over it, spun away, and disappeared back under the trees, leaving me to my fate.
The man who’d opened the door spoke to me in Italian mixed with a local dialect and gestured me to follow.
As I did not know my way back to the inn and would be hard-pressed to find it in the dark, I had little choice but to go inside. The retainer slammed the door behind me, sliding home the bolt.
The thick doorway directed me to, not a foyer, but a garden. Even in winter, much grew in this enclosure that kept out the winds, and the scent of greenery and blossoms engulfed me. A fountain pattered in the middle, moonlight rendering the water droplets diamonds in the air.
