The Borgherini Enigma - Theartofpainting.be

The Borgherini Enigma Page: 36 / 179Salvi sighed, ‘I do not know what to do. Do we have to do anything at all? We have too littleinformation to act upon. The secret of the keys has not been revealed to my son, and I supposealso not to your daughter. We must wait.’‘The secret has not been revealed to me, not to my sons, not to my nephews. It has not beenrevealed to your family either. Yes, wait is all we can do. I hate waiting.’ Roberto kept silencefor a while. He played with the sheets of paper that lay on his table. He shifted and shuffledthem. He was thinking, and Salvi did not interrupt him.Roberto said, ‘I thought once it was too early for my daughter and your son to be betrothed.’‘You hypocrite,’ thought Salvi di Francesco, ’you deemed the Borgherini too new a familyand not rich enough for your daughter! You almost threw me out of you palace, rudely,squarely. There was no question of early or late for a marriage. What has changed?’Roberto looked from his deeply set little black eyes at Salvi, and continued. ‘That is still thecase; it is still too early for a wedding. Margherita refused several suitors already and I am notquite sure I can impose my will on her. No, that is not true; I do not wish to impose my willon her, for she is my darling daughter. I love my daughter and cherish her. She is a fine youngwoman. She grows up rapidly, now. She spoke in other words of your Pierfrancesco thanbefore, in nice words, in other words than she spoke of the other young men she met.’Salvi remained silent and savoured his silence.Roberto continued, ‘suppose we let them see each other? Suppose we do not oppose them andlet things happen as they come for Margherita and Pierfrancesco? Suppose we keep an eye onthem, of course, but let the course of events go by and watch what happens?’‘We could do that,’ agreed Salvi Borgherini. He still kept a straight face, but he was elated forthe Acciaiuoli objected no longer to a marriage between a Borgherini and an Acciaiuoli. Heguessed how difficult such a decision must have been to a man like Roberto di Donato, butthe Acciaiuoli were too curious about the secret of the Preacher to let this chance pass themby. Secrets always held the promise of reward. The greater the secret, the greater the reward,the power, and the treasure. The Acciaiuoli could not let this chance be ignored. TheAcciaiuoli positioned their chess piece, Margherita, on the board aside Pierfrancesco, Salvithought. The Queen was on the board. What would Pierfrancesco be, a King or a pawn? Salviwas in jubilance inwardly. He too fumbled at the sheets of paper on the table however, now.He was worried. He liked Pierfrancesco. He had been harder with the boy than with his otherchildren, for this was the boy that would be his successor. Despite the game of chess hesensed in Roberto also genuine concern for Margherita. He dared not look at Roberto, whowould surely notice his triumph and the greed in his eyes, yet also the concern.‘Letting them out in Florence could prove dangerous to them. Pierfrancesco has already beenattacked twice now,’ Salvi said.‘Twice?’ Roberto exclaimed, showing he knew nothing of the first assault.‘The first attack was on him alone, by the same men, a week ago.’‘I did not know of that first time!’ Roberto said, more alert now and letting some of his usualreservation pass. ‘So your son escaped twice. Maybe that could mean he is a brave andworthy young man. He protected Margherita well, too. I was surprised, for I felt him to be arather uninspired young man in the past.’‘My son astonished me too. Yet, I held my affection from him and scolded him a lot, to formhis character. His true character starts to show. He is becoming a true Borgherini! He also hadprotection,’ Salvi added, wondering how Roberto knew his son. Had Roberto in the pastinformed on Pierfrancesco?Copyright © René Dewil Version 2 Number of words: 108230 July 2009