Tracy Chevalier 3-Book Collection: Girl With a Pearl Earring, Remarkable Creatures, Falling Angels. Tracy Chevalier

avoided cleaning around the easel. I did not know why, but I was nervous about seeing the painting that sat on it. At last, though, there was nothing left to do. I dusted the chair in front of the easel, then began to dust the easel itself, trying not to look at the painting.

      When I glimpsed the yellow satin, however, I had to stop.

      I was still staring at the painting when Maria Thins spoke.

      ‘Not a common sight, now, is it?’

      I had not heard her come in. She stood inside the doorway, slightly stooped, wearing a fine black dress and lace collar.

      I did not know what to say, and I couldn't help it — I turned back to the painting.

      Maria Thins laughed. ‘You're not the only one to forget your manners in front of one of his paintings, girl.’ She came over to stand beside me. ‘Yes, he's managed this one well. That's van Ruijven's wife.’ I recognised the name as the patron my father had mentioned. ‘She's not beautiful but he makes her so,’ she added. ‘It will fetch a good price.’

      Because it was the first painting of his I was to see, I always remembered it better than the others, even those I saw grow from the first layer of underpaint to the final highlights.

      A woman stood in front of a table, turned towards a mirror on the wall so that she was in profile. She wore a mantle of rich yellow satin trimmed with white ermine, and a fashionable five-pointed red ribbon in her hair. A window lit her from the left, falling across her face and tracing the delicate curve of her forehead and nose. She was tying a string of pearls round her neck, holding the ribbons up, her hands suspended in the air. Entranced with herself in the mirror, she did not seem to be aware that anyone was looking at her. Behind her on a bright white wall was an old map, in the dark foreground the table with the letter on it, the powderbrush and the other things I had dusted around.

      I wanted to wear the mantle and the pearls. I wanted to know the man who painted her like that.

      I thought of me looking at my reflection in the mirror earlier and was ashamed.

      Maria Thins seemed content to stand with me and contemplate the painting. It was odd to look at it with the setting just behind it. Already from my dusting I knew all of the objects on the table, and their relation to one another — the letter by the corner, the powderbrush lying casually next to the pewter bowl, the blue cloth bunched around the dark pot. Everything seemed to be exactly the same, except cleaner and purer. It made a mockery of my own cleaning.

      Then I saw a difference. I drew in my breath.

      ‘What is it, girl?’

      ‘In the painting there are no lion heads on the chair next to the woman,’ I said.

      ‘No. There was once a lute sitting on that chair as well. He makes plenty of changes. He doesn't paint just what he sees, but what will suit. Tell me, girl, do you think this painting is done?’

      I stared at her. Her question must be a trick but I could not imagine any change that would make it better.

      ‘Isn't it?’ I faltered.

      Maria Thins snorted. ‘He's been working on it for three months. I expect he'll do so for two more months. He will change things. You'll see.’ She looked around. ‘Done your cleaning, have you? Well, then, go on, girl — go to your other tasks. He'll come soon to see how you've done.’

      I looked at the painting one last time, but by studying it so hard I felt something slip away. It was like looking at a star in the night sky — if I looked at one directly I could barely see it, but if I looked from the corner of my eye it became much brighter.

      I gathered my broom and bucket and cloth. When I left the room, Maria Thins was still standing in front of the painting.

      I filled the pots from the canal and set them on the fire, then went to find Tanneke. She was in the room where the girls slept, helping Cornelia to dress while Maertge helped Aleydis and Lisbeth helped herself. Tanneke was not in good spirits, glancing at me only to ignore me as I tried to speak to her. Finally I stood directly in front of her so that she had to look at me. ‘Tanneke, I'll go to the fish stalls now. What would you like today?’

      ‘Going so early? We always go later in the day.’ Tanneke still did not look at me. She was tying white ribbons into five-pointed stars in Cornelia's hair.

      ‘I'm free while the water is heating and thought I would go now,’ I replied simply. I did not add that the best cuts were to be had early, even if the butcher or fishmonger promised to set aside things for the family. She should know that. ‘What would you like?’

      ‘Don't fancy fish today. Go to the butcher's for a mutton joint.’ Tanneke finished with the ribbons and Cornelia jumped up and pushed past me. Tanneke turned away and opened a chest to search for something. I watched her broad back for a moment, the greyish-brown dress pulled tight across it.

      She was jealous of me. I had cleaned the studio, where she was not allowed, where no one, it seemed, could go except me and Maria Thins.

      When Tanneke straightened, a bonnet in her hand, she said, ‘The master painted me once, you know. Painted me pouring milk. Everyone said it was his best painting.’

      ‘I'd like to see it,’ I responded. ‘Is it still here?’

      ‘Oh no, van Ruijven bought it.’

      I thought for a moment. ‘So one of Delft's wealthiest men takes pleasure in looking at you each day.’

      Tanneke grinned, her pocked face growing even wider. The right words changed her mood in a moment. It was simply up to me to find the words.

      I turned to go before her mood could sour. ‘May I come with you?’ Maertge asked.

      ‘And me?’ Lisbeth added.

      ‘Not today,’ I said firmly. ‘You have something to eat and help Tanneke.’ I did not want it to become habit for the girls to accompany me. I would use it as a reward for minding me.

      I was also longing to walk in familiar streets on my own, not to have a constant reminder of my new life chattering at my side. As I stepped into Market Square, leaving Papists' Corner behind, I breathed in deeply. I had not realised that I had been holding myself in tight all the time I was with the family.

      Before going to Pieter's stall I stopped at the butcher I knew, who beamed when he saw me. ‘At last you decide to say hello! What, yesterday you were too grand for the likes of me?’ he teased.

      I started to explain my new situation but he interrupted me. ‘Of course I know. Everyone is talking — Jan the tiler's daughter has gone to work for the painter Vermeer. And then I see after one day she is already too proud to speak to old friends!’

      ‘I have nothing to be so proud of, becoming a maid. My father is ashamed.’

      ‘Your father was simply unlucky. No one is blaming him. There is no need for you to be ashamed, my dear. Except of course that you are not buying your meat from me.’

      ‘I have no choice, I'm afraid. That's for my mistress to decide.’

      ‘Oh, it is, is it? So your buying from Pieter has nothing to do with his handsome son?’

      I frowned. ‘I have not seen his son.’

      The butcher laughed. ‘You will, you will. Off you go. When you see your mother next tell her to come and see me. I will set aside something for her.’

      I thanked him and passed along the stalls to Pieter's. He seemed surprised to see me. ‘Here already, are you? Couldn't wait to get here for more of that tongue?’

      ‘I'd like a joint of mutton today, please.’

      ‘Now tell me, Griet, was that not the best tongue you have had?’

      I refused to give him the compliment he craved. ‘The master and mistress ate it. They did not remark on it.’

      Behind Pieter a young man turned