Free Lucianna by Bertrice Small Page B

supplying the wagons you will need. You will bring your litter chair?”
    “Yes,” Lucianna said, “but not the bearers. I will hire English bearers. My father will supply us with good horses to ride, and they will go with us to England. I must speak with the Kira banker here. Alfredo had his monies with them once he saw the Medici having their difficulties.”
    She left Balia to her task and went to write a missive requiring the presence of one of her bankers so she might discuss her finances and this journey to England. It was sent off that same afternoon. To her surprise, one of the Kiras arrived to speak with her the following morning. He was ushered into the library, where Lucianna was comfortable doing business.
    The banker bowed. “I am Beniamino Kira,
Signora
Allibatore. I am told the silk guild is sending you to London to represent them. How may I serve you today?” He was a man of middle years. She would not have taken him for a Jew had she not known of his family. He was dressed conservatively and fashionably, as any Florentine banker would have been, with a dark robe and short hair.
    “You wear my father’s silk,” she noted in her greeting.
    “Your eye is sharp,
signora
,” he replied with a small smile.
    Lucianna laughed. “I am my father’s daughter,” she answered. Then she said, “I am going to England in a few days. I will need monies for my travels to begin with. I assume the guild has already contacted you about setting up an account for them in London. I will need to know how to access that account for their business and my own account for my personal use. Do you know with whom I will deal?”
    “David Kira,” the Florentine banker said. “We are a large family and have branches of our bank in most large cities now. He will attend to your needs. He has already been instructed to find you a good small shop in the right area, and a fine house in a respectable neighborhood. We will purchase the house for you, as per your worthy father’s instructions to us. You must not be at any disadvantage. David’s wife is finding servants for you. She is a most scrupulous woman and will see you have the best people. Her name is Yedda. Are you taking any of your own people,
signora
?”
    “Only my personal serving woman,” Lucianna answered him.
    “Of course, of course! She will have been with you for some time, and you are comfortable with her,” he said. “Then those escorting and driving your wagons will return when they have seen you settled?”
    “Yes,” Lucianna said. “This is a new beginning for us.”
    Beniamino Kira smiled. “You are a brave young woman, if I may say it,
signora
. Yedda will see to the servants. If you find yourself dissatisfied, you have but to tell her. She will help you find furnishings as well. You may trust her.”
    “I am grateful to you,
Signore
Kira.”
    “I shall have a purse delivered to you the afternoon before you leave. Is there any other way I may serve you today?” he asked her.
    “This house. It must be cleaned thoroughly, the furnishings covered, the servants paid. I will give each of them a reference. The house should be checked once in a while to make certain no one has broken in or stolen anything. Only the shop and my stepson’s workshop can be available to him. I have a single employee who now watches over the bookstall. He is paid weekly. Will you see to it?”
    “Of course,
signora
. Everything shall be as you request,” the banker told her. “Your stepson’s family is not moving in here?”
    “Under no circumstances. This is my house, my home, and I will eventually return to it to live out my old age,” Lucianna said.
    “You have no hope of this English earl, then,” the banker said.
    “I have no hope of anyone,
Signore
Kira, but myself. I am my own mistress now, and I will live my life to suit me alone,” Lucianna said.
    He nodded. “Yes, that will be best for you in a foreign place with no family to advise or counsel you.”