business,” Giovanni warned them.
“We are already losing business to Milan.”
“We will lose more. If you were a busy merchant in London, would you want to leave your business and family to travel to Florence?”
“I’d travel anywhere, anytime, to avoid listening to my wife and my mistress complain,” one man said, and there was much good-natured laughter at this remark.
Giovanni smiled. “I imagine we all would at one time or another, but if there is an easier way of obtaining our fine silk for English merchants, why should we not pursue it?” he asked them. “It will not require an enormous outlay on our parts. A small shop in a good location, a single representative, a fine supply of our fabrics, and smaller samples showing the various colors available. If we divide the small cost among us, we then have an excellent advantage.”
“Where did you learn this information regarding Milan?” one of the silk merchants asked him.
“I heard it first from the English lord who purchased such a large order from me for his king several months back. He had visited Milan first, and was told it. After he passed his knowledge on to me, I investigated the rumor myself, and learned it was true.”
“We must pay for the man representing us. London is an expensive city in which to live,” another of the silk merchants said. “We need someone knowledgeable, and someone who can speak their language. Who among us has someone like that who fits that description and is willing to part with them?”
There was a deep silence. No one spoke up, and Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo knew he now had the advantage over them. He had not been certain until now, but now he knew.
“I would send my daughter Lucianna,” he said quietly. “She is very knowledgeable of our trade and speaks English quite well.”
“A woman?”
“The bookseller’s widow?”
“Impossible! We will be a laughingstock.”
“Why?” he demanded of them. “Because she is female? She knows our business. She speaks their language.”
“What does Orianna think of this?” one merchant dared to ask.
“She’ll have your balls for even suggesting such a thing,” another said boldly.
“My wife does not manage my business, nor this guild,” Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo said icily. “If you are foolish enough to allow Milan to get ahead of us, I will send her myself to represent my silks only, and I will end up being the only successful silk merchant remaining in our fair city. It is your decision to make, good sirs.” He had no intention of arguing the point all evening.
“To send a woman to do our business is unusual,” Carlo Alberti, a well-respected silk merchant said. “I cannot deny, however, that Lucianna, your daughter, knows silk very well. She is a credit to you and to our guild. Will you compromise with us, Giovanni, and send a man with her? My wife tells me that Orianna is unhappy that your Luca follows a military career. He is your daughter’s twin. Could you not persuade him to give up his warlike pursuits to learn the business of our commerce? He might accompany his sister to London. She could teach him our trade. Considering your oldest son’s disinterest in silk, and your second son’s religious vocation, it could do you no disservice to have another heir, with a well-rounded knowledge of silks.”
The other merchants voiced their agreement and approval of such a plan. Thinking for a moment, Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo decided that Carlo Alberti’s idea was a rather excellent one. Why he hadn’t thought of it himself, he didn’t know. “I will agree to your proposal,” he said, “and send Luca with his sister. Now let us vote on the matter.”
They voted. While a few disliked the idea, the majority voted in favor of opening a small shop in London to represent their guild, with Lucianna Pietro d’Angelo and her brother Luca as their representatives. They all knew her, and they could be certain she would be a fair deputy for
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