Page 53 of The Quiet Wife
“Will I be a study or a nocturne?” She was referring to his odd way of naming his paintings.
He pondered this. “I think you will be a symphony,” he said in a soft voice, his eyes warm and admiring.
She blushed and wondered what he would find when he looked beneath her surface. Would he re-make her? Would she be his Galatea?
CHAPTER 18
Speke Hall – Liverpool
“Will you help me dress for the portrait?” Frances asked her sister a few days later when Jemie had arranged for the sittings to begin.
Lizzie squealed. “Of course. Is it too daring to ask your maid?”
“Nothing like that at all. I…” It was true. She didn’t want her maid to dress her in that gown. It was the sort of gown she imagined one would wear to meet a lover. Just the thought of it made her prickle all over.
“Goose,” Lizzie squeezed her arm. “When are you sitting?”
“Well, now,” she mumbled awkwardly.
“Then let us go. Where is the gown?”
“It’s in the parlour where he’s set up a studio. I’ve arranged a screen so I can dress in there and not be trailing around in it. I really don’t want to bump into Frederick wearing it.”
“Jolly good idea. Come on.” Lizzie jostled her along.
The house was quiet as they made their way down to the parlour. Mercifully, Frederick had been in Liverpool for the last couple of days. When they arrived, Jemie was bent over his sketchbook,hands flying across the paper. He looked up as they came in and ran a hand through his hair.
“Aha! My next victim. Come in, come in.”
She laughed softly at him. “Lizzie will help me dress.”
“Fine,” he motioned for them to go ahead, and waited.
“What?” he shook his head with a puzzled look when both sisters stared at him.
“Perhaps you might like to wait outside?” Lizzie suggested.
“Of course! My apologies,” he scrambled to leave.
“Honestly,” Lizzie tutted. “He might be a genius, but I think he sometimes lives in another world.”
“Here it is,” Frances pulled back the frame to reveal the garment on the mannequin.
She watched Lizzie’s reaction. Her eyes widened as she walked around the dress, reaching out to touch it.
“What do you think? Is it too much?”
A broad smile broke out over Lizzie’s face. “Oh, my word, it’s… it’s… sensational.”
Frances blinked at the high praise, rare from her sister. “You think so?”
“My God, Jemie Whistler really is a genius. It’s beautiful. Not something you might wear every day, but nothing that anyone could really complain about. It’s just the right side of daring, and you are going to look utterlydivinein it.”
France beamed with delight. “You really think so?”
“It will go perfectly with your hair. The train at the back is beautiful. Will it be visible in the painting?”
“He said that he’d like to paint me from behind. So, I’m looking back at him. Like this.” She showed her how Jemie had suggested.
