Wings over Delft Read Online Free Page B

shouted as he flashed around. ‘See how they fly out! You, my dear, would be spun off the globe and would crack your head on the floor of heaven before you could say lapis lazuli.’ Here he lost balance and collapsed onto the low chair behind his easel where Louise could only see his legs. ‘Give up, my dear. You may not have heard of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher , but he got it right; we have no authority to change our minds … ’ Then he groaned, ‘Lord how the room swims.’
    Louise smiled. Serve you right, she thought, but she was relieved that he hadn’t done himself an injury. Nevertheless, she resented his presumption that she had not heard of Aristotle.
    ‘You mean Aristotle’s crystalline spheres, I presume?’ she said, and cocked her head, waiting for his response. Slowly his head appeared around the edge of the canvas. ‘Pieter,’ he said humbly. ‘Miss Eeden knows her Aristotle. We must look to our laurels.’
    ‘Eight spheres,’ Louise said, conscious that she was showing off. The Master rose carefully, holding on to the edge of the canvas to steady himself. He began to incant, his voice taking on a dreamy, inward sounding tone.
    ‘At the centre lies the earth, changeable and corruptible;about this circles the moon, a celestial orb, perfect and incorruptible. This is the divine plan. Then come the eight crystalline spheres slipping past each other, each with its own heavenly burden: one for the sun, and seven for the planets. Then comes the outer firmament, in which are embedded the fixed stars, the stars that do not change.’ As the Master spoke he used his hands, eloquently describing the spheres for Louise in the air in front of him. She was moved, and a little ashamed at having shown off. It was indeed a beautiful concept, and it had a divine simplicity, but she had to respond.
    ‘Master, I would like to think that you were right, but with our telescope we will see things that I’m afraid prove beyond doubt that these beautiful crystal spheres cannot in fact exist. How will you explain the movements of the four moons that circle Jupiter? How can these circle the planet if Jupiter is set in crystal – frozen as if in ice?’
    ‘The answer, my dear, is simple; they cannot, therefore there is no point in looking!’
    ‘But –’
    He held up his hand. ‘No but , my dear. You have described it perfectly. If you look through the clear ice of a canal in winter you will often see a fish that has become frozen into it. If I were to tell you that smaller fishes could be seen swimming through the ice about it, you would dismiss me for a fool because fish can’t swim in ice, no more can moons orbit in crystal. It is therefore a waste of God’s time to look.’
    Louise was dumbfounded. She shook her head; hereally meant what he had said! Speaking as clearly and precisely as she could, she said: ‘On the contrary, Master, I would look and, if they did move, I would tell you that you were mistaken. That the fish could not be frozen in the ice as you thought, just as I tell you now, Jupiter cannot be set in crystal.’
    ‘But, child, what arrogance! Don’t you know in your heart that supreme concepts are greater than mere facts? That the sacred Aristotle’s model of the universe must outweigh the observations of a sixteen-year-old girl with a telescope? Your telescope lies.’ Louise’s head was beginning to swim. She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry. What made it worse was the realisation that she liked this cantankerous old man. She wanted his approval more than anything, but he belonged in the past. What could she do? She felt the blood surging into her face, a sure sign of danger. When she flared like this with Annie she usually said something that she regretted. But truth would out.
    ‘Sir, how can a telescope lie?’ she demanded. ‘When we get our lenses I will show you, and you will see with your own eyes.’ She looked up at him. She was pleading, but it was no use; he had