The Lady and the Unicorn Read Online Free PDF Page A

talk to Léon, not me.’
‘Yes, Monseigneur, but I felt that for something as important as these tapestries you should be consulted directly.’ As I hurried after him, the end of the pole dipped and caught on a stone, tumbling from my hands and clattering to the ground. The whole courtyard rang with the sound. Jean Le Viste stopped and glared at me.
‘I am concerned, Monseigneur,’ I said hastily. ‘Concerned that you should have hung on your walls what others would expect from such a prominent member of Court. From a President of the Cour des Aides, no less.’ I was making up words as I went along.
‘What's your point? I am busy here.’
‘I have seen designs for a number of tapestries this past year commissioned by noble families from my fellow artists. All of these tapestries have one thing in common — a millefleur background.’ This much was true — backgrounds of a dense pattern of flowers were popular now, particularly as weavers in the north perfected the technique.
‘Flowers?’ Jean Le Viste repeated, looking down at his feet as if he had just trampled upon some.
‘Yes, Monseigneur.’
‘There are no flowers in battles.’
‘No, Monseigneur. They have not been weaving battles. Several of my colleagues have designed scenes with — with unicorns in them, Monseigneur.’
‘Unicorns?’
‘Yes, Monseigneur.’
Jean Le Viste looked so sceptical that I quickly added another lie that I could only hope he wouldn't discover. ‘Several noble families are having them made — Jean d'Alençon, Charles de St Émilion, Philippe de Chartres.’ I tried to name families Jean Le Viste was unlikely to visit — they either lived too far away, or were too noble for the Le Vistes, or not noble enough.
‘They are not having battles made,’ Jean Le Viste repeated.
‘No, Monseigneur.’
‘Unicorns.’
‘Yes, Monseigneur. They are à la mode now. And it did occur to me that a unicorn might be appropriate for your family.’ I described Béatrice's pun.
Jean Le Viste didn't change expression, but he nodded, and that was enough. ‘Do you know what to have this unicorn do?’
‘Yes, Monseigneur, I do.’
‘All right, then. Tell Léon. And bring me the drawings before Easter.’ Jean Le Viste turned to cross the courtyard. I bowed to his back.
It hadn't been so hard to convince him as I'd thought. I had been right that Jean Le Viste would want what he thought everyone else had. But then, that is nobility without the generations of blood behind it — they imitate rather than invent. It didn't occur to Jean Le Viste that he might gain more respect by commissioning battle tapestries when no one else had. As sure of himself as he seemed, he wouldn't strike out on his own. As long as he didn't find out that there were no other unicorn tapestries, I would be safe. Of course I would have to design the finest tapestries possible — tapestries that would make other families want their own, and make Jean Le Viste proud to have been the first to own such a thing.
It wasn't just him I wanted to please, though, but his wife and daughter too. I wasn't sure which mattered more to me — Claude's lovely face or Geneviève's sad one. Perhaps there was room for both in the unicorn's wood.
That night I drank at Le Coq d'Or to celebrate the commission, and afterwards slept poorly. I dreamt of unicorns and ladies surrounded by flowers, a girl chewing on a clove, another gazing at herself in a well, a lady holding jewels by a small casket, a girl feeding a falcon. It was all in a jumble that I could not set straight. It was not a nightmare, though, but a longing.
When I woke the next morning, my head was clear and I was ready to make the dreams real.

CLAUDE LE VISTE
Maman asked Papa about the tapestries after Mass on Easter Sunday, and that was when I heard the artist was coming back. We were all walking back to the rue du Four, and Jeanne and Petite Geneviève wanted me to run ahead with them and jump over puddles, but I stayed back to