Chapter Thirty-Six
GRIETE HOUSE, ANTWERP, 1629
The snow came to nothing just as Henri predicted it would. St Nicolas’s Day itself was overcast with enough heavy rain showers to keep them all indoors, making the children fractious. Clara looked out from her chamber at the river. A view so much a part of her life, though it had been many years since she had been at Griete House for the winter feast.
She had already changed into her crimson gown with its bodice embroidered with golden ribbon-work flowers, a pearl stitched into each centre. Adela had chosen it and sent it with Henri together with letters. Little Jan was thriving, and Nico and the pupils had plenty of work. She missed them and, thinking of her household seated around her own table without her, wished herself there. Could thi
