Daughters of the Doge by Edward Charles Page A

as required. I could not fault them for that, but having seen the process in reverse, with King Edward setting out to impress the French ambassadors, and with my master at that time explaining each step to me as it unfolded, somehow I felt the whole thing was too choreographed, and as such, meaningless and insincere. I lost interest completely when they were doing all their diplomatic flummery and excessive praise – it’s all meaningless bluster – and, instead, I started looking at that map on the wall behind the Doge. I am not sure you noticed it; the one of the whole Mediterranean Sea.’
    Thomas laughed out loud, his voice echoing loudly from one wall to another, so that a number of the German merchants around us looked up to see what the joke was.
    ‘Yes, I know – I was thinking the same thoughts, and looking at the same map. I could not help thinking, as I looked at it, that the world of trade is changing fast.’
    ‘As is the world of religion.’ Perhaps it was the Lutheran surroundings here in the German trade centre, but the words had leaped from my mouth before I had fully considered them. I saw Thomas’s eyes level as he looked back at me. I knew he did not share my view about the inevitability of the religious revolution that was sweeping through Europe.
    ‘I am not sure you are right about that, Richard, but for the benefit of my digestion, let’s stay with the original discussion.’
    I was embarrassed, and sorry I had let that awkward thought escape. ‘I agree. Another thing that has undoubtedly changed is the Council of Ten’s response to Courtenay. He was studiously ignored when we first arrived here. I cannot believe anyone arrives in the city – certainly not nobility taking rooms at the Leon Bianco – without the council knowing, so they must have ignored his arrival intentionally.’
    Thomas chewed his food carefully and after a few moments nodded his agreement. I continued, more confidently.
    ‘But today their attitude to the earl had changed entirely. Why do you think that was? Something must have happened to influence them since we entered the city. We have not been involved in any event here, nor have we caused any trouble, so it must have been triggered by the arrival of information from outside. Do you agree?’
    Thomas shrugged his shoulders, apparently uncommitted, but I knew from his eyes that he was still listening.
    ‘Well, the obvious source of such information is an envoy or ambassador.’
    Thomas looked at me, sharper now. ‘Do you mean Peter Vannes, the English Ambassador here in Venice?’
    I nodded, trying not to disclose anything Francis Walsingham might have told me. ‘Yes, or Federico Badoer, the Venetian Ambassador in England.’
    Thomas shook his head, appearing to lose interest again. ‘I have no idea. I have never met him.’ His politics seemed limited to people he had met personally, but having spent some time at Court in England, I knew the intrigues that went on every day as one man of power jostled for position with another. This was not a dry argument – our own lives might eventually be affected by it. Whether Thomas was interested or not, I continued.
    ‘Of course, there is also the Venetian Ambassador at the Imperial Court in Brussels, Giovanni Michiel. He knows the earl well and no doubt has some interest in the matter.’
    Thomas seemed finally to have lost all interest in my concerns and instead was concentrating fully on his supper. ‘Does it matter who is influencing Venetian policy? How does it affect us?’
    I could not understand why he could not see it. Walsingham would have been there in a flash, but that was a name I dared not mention. ‘Of course it matters, for then we can surmise their objectives and in so doing, understand how best to protect ourselves. I saw this in the way King Edward handled foreign ambassadors – he treated them as the best of friends to their faces, but in truth he did not trust a single one of them. Something