Wings over Delft Read Online Free

you with eleven lemons in your mouth and marry you off to Pieter here!’ He flexed his brush and made a pass at the boy; the clown had returned. 

Galileo
Chapter 3
    ‘So, I am to paint Miss Louise Eeden as we painted the beggar at the Begijnhof gate,’ the Master said, gazing up at the ceiling. ‘It makes me itch just to think of him. But how about your father? If his daughter refuses to sit for me as the young lady he might expect, will he approve of her as a beggar, and more importantly, will he pay?’
    ‘Oh he will pay, and I’m sure he never meant it to be a formal portrait. I think he only thought about a picture of me when he bought the silk for my dress.’
    ‘Ah! The famous silk dress. Come, let us see it. Your father told me, and I’m afraid my heart sank.’ He came over to her. ‘Your cloak … if I may help?’ Louise stood up. She loosened the clasp and he lifted the cloak from her shoulders and stepped back. The captive silk cascaded around her with a whisper.
    ‘Aah!’ The Master sighed, and the sound of grinding stopped. He walked around her, breathing heavily through his nose. ‘Green silk from China … silk of Cathay! Bought from the very ship, your father says. Do you see it, Pieter? A challenge, eh! Your father did not exaggerate. But do you know how difficult it is for us to paint in green? There is nosuch thing as a green paint to match this, no green that we can pound up and smear on our palette. The colours in this dress will have to be built up layer upon layer. Pieter, bring over a piece of the lapis lazuli you are grinding.’ He waited while the boy came across the room and opened his hand. There it was – the brilliant blue she had seen that moment when she had come into the room.
    ‘Beautiful,’ she whispered.
    ‘Don’t you ask why we use blue and not green?’ the Master queried.
    ‘You have already said, Master, that there is no green paint you can use, so that means you must use blue and yellow . But to grind up jewels is beyond belief, and how do you mix them? The yellow that you use must be clear and translucent for the blue to shine through.’
    ‘Listen to her, Pieter.’ Master Haitink said with unfeigned surprise. ‘The young lady knows more about our business than is safe. Perhaps she is a spy sent by that rogue Fabritius to learn our secrets. We must take care.’
    ‘You forget, Master,’ reminded his apprentice, ‘that you have not told even me how you compound your yellows. It is your last secret.’ The boy tossed the blue stone in the air and walked back to his corner.
    ‘Last secret indeed! The day you get your indentures back, Pieter, I will tell you.’ He stepped back, looking at Louise in admiration. ‘Oh, Miss Eeden let me paint you standing there. I will put a crown on your head and a sceptre in your hand.’
    ‘And all eleven lemons in my mouth?’ laughed the girl.
    ‘Sit, child. Let me prepare you; I have a vision to capture again.’ Louise sat, while his hands flew over her, detached and professional, arranging the folds of the dress, fluffing out the white linen sleeves of her blouse where they emerged from the stiff, half-sleeved bodice. ‘So this is the latest fashion?’ he said, as he lifted the white linen cloth from her head and explored where Annie had rolled her hair at the back. She had bound the roll of hair with a double strand of seed pearls. ‘With your permission …’ he undid one of the strands so that it could hang free. ‘Now, see, it frames your face.’ He stood back then and frowned.
    ‘Pieter,’ he said. ‘We have too much light in here.’ He tapped his foot impatiently while the boy crossed the room and drew the curtains against the morning sun. The stream of yellow light was snipped off and the room darkened. The boy joined his master, and they both stood staring at the dress.
    ‘Surely you want all the light you can get?’ asked Louise, disappointed and uncomfortable under their joint scrutiny.
    ‘Oh no,