Part 16 (2/2)
Ludolf showed surprise. ”Do you intend to prepare me for not liking Francesca's portrait of me?”
”No. Nothing like that.”
Ludolf looked pointedly at the clock again. ”I really must be going. I'm busy tomorrow, but the day after the banquet at midmorning-”
”That's almost three days!” He dared not risk meeting either Otto or Claudius at the banquet with the promissory notes still unpaid. Neither could he risk offending Ludolf by staying away. ”I can't wait that long!”
For the first time Ludolf appeared to take note of Hendrick's desperate expression. ”Hmm. I can see you are troubled. Ride with me in the coach and we can talk on the way.”
In the coach Hendrick thought that if the situation had been contrived to be as awkward as possible for him it could not have surpa.s.sed these circ.u.mstances. How did one begin to ask a man short of time for a huge loan with all the distractions of a busy street pa.s.sing by? To add to everything else, Ludolf had a sheaf of important-looking papers in his hand, at which he kept glancing and which were obviously uppermost in his mind.
”Ludolf,” he began, and then hesitated.
From the opposite seat, Ludolf looked across at him. ”Well? Speak up, my friend. What is it?”
The amiable courtesy could not veil a slight impatience. Somehow Hendrick found his voice. ”First of all I should like to thank you for not having mentioned my ill fortune while we dined today, or during your sittings with Francesca.” He had thought that a good way to start, but now he was not sure of anything anymore.
”I know the prim att.i.tude most women hold toward gambling losses,” Ludolf replied with a shrug. ”It's best to keep them in ignorance of occasional bouts of ill luck.” He chatted on flowingly about how he tried to keep from his sick wife whatever he thought might distress her. Frantically Hendrick awaited his chance to speak again. Had he not known his patron for the kindly man he was, it would have been possible to believe the delay in letting him speak was deliberate. Perhaps it was! Anyone as rich as Ludolf would have become adept over the years in thwarting appeals for money. Then, even as Hendrick felt it was impossible to go on with what he had intended to say, Ludolf gestured encouragingly.
”I'm talking too much. Pray pardon me. As I daresay you've noticed,” he added with a touch of humor, ”the only time I'm silent is when I'm concentrating on play at the tables. We really must have another evening of cards again soon-not just on the evening of the banquet, when the players in the card room will be an a.s.sorted bunch, but us four keen players on our own again. That should give you the opportunity to recoup your losses.”
”That chance can't be mine.” Hendrick clasped his shaking hands together. Into his artist's mind there sprang a picture of how he must look and the t.i.tle of such a painting came with it. The Abject Borrower. ”I'm in a most terrible predicament. I've not yet settled my debts to our fellow players and I can't foresee any time in the near future when I'll be able to!”
Ludolf looked extremely grave and he put the sheaf of papers on the seat beside him as he leaned forward. ”This is a dreadful admission to hear. I had no idea that this was what you wanted to speak to me about. I thought-Well, no matter now. How did this situation arise?”
Although Hendrick gave the best explanation possible, saying that he was carried away by the excitement of the game, it sounded weak and feeble even to his own ears. No matter what he said, nothing could take away the fact that his playing for stakes beyond his capacity was tantamount to theft. Moreover, settling gaming debts quickly was a matter of honor, and failure to do so meant ostracism and disgrace in any gaming circle. He struggled on and when he had finally managed to utter his request for a loan he lapsed into a stunned state of misery, seeing how deeply he had shocked his patron, who was perhaps his patron no longer.
Ludolf sat back in his seat, shaking his head slowly as if words failed him at this lamentable disclosure. When eventually he did speak it was in a slow and weighty voice.
”It is entirely against my principles to lend money for gaming debts. No man such as you with a family should jeopardize his responsibilities in such a foolhardy-I will say criminal-way. And to such a vast sum! A fortune, mijnheer,” he emphasized, as if Hendrick might not be fully aware of it.
A rebellious streak in Hendrick made him want to retort that it would not be a fortune to Ludolf, wallowing in wealth, although it was to him. ”I know,” he croaked, closing his eyes to shut out the black abyss waiting to drag him down. Refusal was in Ludolf's every intonation. ”I'm a lost man if you don't help me.”
There was a seemingly endless silence before Ludolf spoke again and then more leniently. ”You've been a fool, but you've placed your problem before me and as your patron I must think how best to solve it for you.” He stroked his pointed beard as he looked unseeingly out the window as if deep in thought, fully aware that the distraught artist was waiting on tenterhooks. ”My first move must be to purchase your promissory notes. That would lift from you the immediate need to sell your home and give you breathing s.p.a.ce.”
Hendrick almost wept with grat.i.tude. ”What can I say? This-”
”Wait!” Ludolf frowned at him sternly. ”There is no guarantee that either Claudius or Otto will sell. They may feel an example should be made of you and take you to a debtors' court. If I should be successful in taking over your debts,” he added after a pause of meditation, ”I would set conditions and expect some collateral.”
”Anything I have is yours.”
”Anything?”
”Yes, on my oath! I ask only to keep my paintings of Anna.”
Ludolf nodded. ”I'll give you my word that I'll leave no stone unturned to do my best for you and your family. I'm thinking particularly of Francesca, who must be uppermost in your mind in the midst of all your troubles. When do you intend to tell her that her apprentices.h.i.+p is not to be?”
Hendrick was glad to have something good to tell. ”That has been spared me. Her stay in Delft is already financed. Whatever happens to me won't touch her.”
With a sense of shock Ludolf saw his intended grip on Francesca loosened. ”In what manner did that come about?” he barked harshly.
Hendrick thought miserably that surely his personal dignity had suffered enough. There was no need to let Ludolf know the true source, and in any case Pieter had wanted it kept between themselves. ”Anna left all three of our daughters some money that was her own,” he said, which in itself was a truthful statement. ”That's how I'm able to keep Francesca from knowing anything about my present straits and I'm going to try to keep it that way for as long as possible. Once she is installed at Vermeer's studio she will be compelled by the law governing apprentices.h.i.+p to fulfill her indenture time, however much she may wish to be at home with me during what may be difficult days.”
At any other time Hendrick might have noticed Ludolf's reaction to what had been said in the sharp flare of nostril and ugly twist of the mouth, but neither his sight nor his reason was wholly under his command in his present taut and anxious state. With an almost puppetlike jerk of the arm, Ludolf s.n.a.t.c.hed up his sheaf of papers and spoke in a clipped manner. ”We have reached my warehouse. You had better alight here at the gate.” He tapped fiercely with his cane for the coach to stop.
”How soon shall I know if you've been successful?” Hendrick asked, making no immediate move to alight, although he could see his patron was impatient for him to be gone.
”I'll send a messenger to your house when I'm ready to see you.”
”And the debt itself, if all should go well? How am I ever to repay you?”
”This whole affair must be taken one step at a time.” Ludolf's face was hard and expressionless. ”We can discuss what is to be done next-whatever the outcome-after I've made my attempt to salvage you from this sordid catastrophe. Now good day to you.”
Hendrick stepped out of the coach. As the door shut and Ludolf was carried forward into the cobbled yard of his warehouse he hurled the papers from him. As they fluttered about he slammed a fist into the palm of his hand and swore viciously. He had planned everything down to the last detail, but he had not allowed for an unexpected fund to weaken his total hold over the situation.
DURING THE FREQUENT sittings Ludolf had plenty of time to reconsider his strategy toward Francesca in view of the unexpected hitch. Since there was nothing he could do to prevent her going to Delft he would make sure that she was lodged where she could be available to him when the time came. In fact this turn of events could prove to his advantage in the end, for it was inevitable that she would be homesick at first and he would be the comforting friend visiting her until such time as she succ.u.mbed to him as his mistress. It was fortunate that he had connections at Delft, which he did visit on business of his own from time to time, and therefore none would question him calling to see the daughter of an artist whose patron he happened to be, Amalia least of all. Knowing his wife as he did, he could be sure that she would want news of Francesca, and she would be innocently pleased that he should apparently go out of his way to see the girl.
His eyes slid under their lids in Francesca's direction. As always he marveled at his own patience in stalking her, but he needed more from her than he had ever wanted from any other woman. Once she was his mistress he doubted if his obsession would ever be slaked. He almost resented her for the savage pull on his senses, the madness she had inflicted in his blood, and it caused him just as much satisfaction to contemplate how he would punish her for it as it would be to pleasure her.
He returned his gaze to where he was supposed to be looking. She had not said anything about his erring from it and he supposed she was busy painting his wig or the fine linen cravat at his throat or some other part of his raiment. One of the marks he could count up to his own favor in this heady pursuit of her was that she had addressed him early on by his Christian name, which had been at his request.
”You may rest now if you wish, Ludolf.”
He smiled across at her, thinking that maybe it would not be long before she was whispering the reverse of that invitation in the night hours.
Chapter 10.
ON THE EVE OF THE BANQUET FRANCESCA STOOD BACK FROM her portrait of Ludolf and studied it critically. She could see her own faults, which she must strive to correct during her apprentices.h.i.+p, but the overall likeness that she had captured should please him. During the hours they had spent together she had come to know him well enough to realize he would not mind that she had shown his ruthlessness, for in conversation he had made it clear that he enjoyed power and business intrigue. In her painting she had also revealed his sharp intelligence while the sly twinkle in his fierce eyes betrayed an appreciation of bawdy humor. The whole portrait had been a challenge in more ways than one and she was thankful it was finished. She wished she could call Ludolf in to see it now, which would save her coming back in the morning, but as he was absent from the house this afternoon he had told her he would view it first on the morrow.
When she had cleaned her brushes and removed her smock, she tidied her appearance and then left the studio. Normally she spent an enjoyable half an hour with Amalia before going home, drinking tea with her, but today Neeltje waited at the foot of the stairs.
”My mistress begs you to excuse her, but she is unable to see you today.”
”Is she very unwell?”
”No,” Neeltje replied. ”She is saving all her strength for her appearance at table tomorrow evening.”
”That's sensible. Give her my good wishes.”
As Francesca left the house she thought it was fortunate that Sybylla had not visited today, but had been occupied at home preparing what she would wear at the banquet. It had given Amalia all day to conserve her strength. Rain was pelting down and she ran down the wet steps to the waiting coach and was quick to get into it. Its door had not yet been closed when there was a slight scuffle outside. Leaning forward, she saw that the coach servant holding the door was trying to push Pieter away.
”It's all right,” she exclaimed quickly. ”I know this gentleman. But I'm getting out to walk with him.”
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