Chapter Thirty-Seven
GRIETE HOUSE, ANTWERP, 1630
One January morning, after Constanza left for her meeting with the cook, Clara made her escape, gathering her cloak from the voorhuis and slipping outside into the garden. She hurried away out of sight before stopping to fill her lungs with fresh air. It felt good to leave the overheated house, at last. Constanza would disapprove – she thought European winters a constant threat to health – but Clara needed to be outdoors to shake off the ennui her convalescence had brought down upon her.
She was now convinced the strange experience with the painting had been part of her illness. Though it had happened days before, she had no doubt her already overheating mind had been responsible. She would never tell anyone of it any more than she would
