Chapter Thirteen
AMSTERDAM, 1619
Clara appreciated the brief respite from the studio that time alone in the deserted great hall provided. Nico was with Joris, who had commissioned a portrait. Meg and Will had errands on the Warmoesstraat. Adela was on Kalverstraat with a friend, buying ribbons, and Aunt Fabiana was taking her afternoon nap. The silence was as disconcerting as it was welcome.
From the window seat, she looked down upon the small parterre garden where raindrop-jewelled cobwebs draped the low clipped hedges. Yet, it was a sorry miniature of the one at Griete House. There were puddles reflecting a tumultuous sky on the gravel paths, telling her the drainage was not sound. She thought of her father. Something she rarely permitted herself. How he would have admonished her for
