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Fleur crossed one knee over the other—an unladylike pose, but effective for balancing a sketch pad—and glowered at Je
“Your sister has beautiful eyebrows,” Mr. Harrison said to his audience. “They have the most graceful curve. It’s a family trait, I believe.”
Amanda crouched closer. “Does that mean I have them too?”
He glanced over at her, his expression utterly serious. “You do, though yours are a touch more dramatic. When you make your bows, gentlemen will write so
“Papa’s horse is So
While he spoke, his pencil moved over the page in short, light bursts of activity. “Notice the way Miss Fleur’s eyes, as beautiful as they are, aren’t pitched at exactly the same angle. Nobody’s face is perfectly symmetrical, not if you study them closely.”
“What’s symmet—that word you said?”
While Je
“Have you ever drawn a crow?” Amanda asked. “Or a pitcher?”
“I’m sure I have. Crows are a challenge because they want you to think they’re black, but in the sun, they’re many colors.”
From across the room, Je
“So what do you do when you want to draw a crow?” Amanda’s nose was less than an inch from Mr. Harrison’s sleeve.
His pencil did not stop moving, though Fleur was begi
“I try to draw the crow as he sees himself. They’re curious fellows, flying about as if the entire world were available as their perch. I’ve seen a crow light on the back of a cow, for example, and the cow had nothing to say to it.”
Amanda gri
“I’m curious too,” Fleur said. “I don’t want to sit on a cow. I want to sit on a pony.”
“What would you name your pony?” Mr. Harrison asked.
Je
As Je
His Grace; her uncle Tony; her oldest brother, Devlin St. Just; her brothers-by-marriage, Kesmore and Deene; her late brother, Bartholomew… Thoughts of Bart brought both grief and anger.
And, of course, guilt.
The clock chimed the quarter hour, prodding Je
While she had only fourteen more minutes to give vent to years of artistic frustration.
And yet, when she looked down at the page twenty minutes later—Fleur would remain still no longer, not even with a book on her lap—Je
“Shall we have a critique session?” he asked as he rose. “I’m sure the young ladies would be happy to assist us.”
His hand settled on Fleur’s dark curls, and the little girl went still beneath his touch—even Kesmore didn’t have that effect on his daughter—while Je
“I have used up my half hour and then some, Mr. Harrison. I would not impose further.”
“Nonsense. My model has been very patient, as has my assistant, and I’m sure they’d be fascinated to see what we’ve created.”
“I can show you my sketch,” Fleur volunteered.
“What’s a critique session?” Amanda asked.
A critique session was when you put your heart in the middle of a busy thoroughfare and hoped at least some of the passing traffic didn’t roll directly over it.
Mr. Harrison smiled down at Amanda. “A critique session is when people who share a similar passion try to help each other improve their work. Like when you read your papa’s poetry and suggest a better rhyme to him.”
“Mama does that,” Fleur said. “She makes Papa smile. I know a lot of rhymes. Do you want to see my sketch?”
He held out a hand. “Of course.”
In one gesture and two words, he’d given Fleur a gift of confidence no one would take from her. Je
He was quiet; he was reserved. He was not the most cheerful individual, and he could be brusque, but he was kind. She had not appreciated this about him when he’d joined in the critique sessions at Antoine’s, though her recollection was of a man who’d offered suggestions and observations, not criticisms.
He appropriated the brocade pillows and arranged them on the hearth, then held out a hand to her. “Come, Lady Je
His hand was warm, and he seated her as graciously as if they were at one of the Duchess of Moreland’s entertainments. Fleur and Amanda each tucked themselves against an adult, and Je
He would not laugh at her work in front of the children, would he?
“Miss Fleur, your work comes first, lest you burst with excitement and rain feathers all over the room.” He took Fleur’s proffered sketch pad and regarded her efforts in silence for some moments.
“You are an honest artist,” he remarked. “You have chosen to present your aunt without even a hint of a smile. That was brave of you, but also accurate, given how hard Lady Je
Je
“Fleur, you have a good eye.” On the page, a lady sat hunched in a rocking chair, the composition a heap of dress, chin, and severe bun, as if crabbed with age. No particular features were evident, and proportion was a lost cause, as was perspective, and yet, the child had managed to catch something of an unhappy intensity about Je
“Let me see,” Amanda demanded. She plucked the sketch from Je
Je
“Lady Je
She passed her sketch pad over to him, feeling a pang of sympathy for accused criminals as they stood in the dock. And yet, she’d asked for this. Gotten together all of her courage to ask for this one moment of artistic communion.
“Well,” Mr. Harrison said, “isn’t he a handsome fellow? What do you think, ladies?”
“You look like a papa,” Fleur observed. “Though our papa doesn’t sketch. He reads stories.”
“And hates his ledgers,” Amanda added. “Is my hair that long in back?”
“Yes,” Je
“I look…” He regarded the sketch in silence, while Je
Quite good. Like saying a baby was adorable, a young gentleman well-ma
“The pose was simple,” Je