Part 4 (1/2)

”Truly?” asked her ladys.h.i.+p with fascinated dismay as she swiped a glistening blob of red jam from the corner of her mouth. ”How horrid. I do not think I would have chosen to portray Demeter if I knew that. I wished to make a gift of the picture, you see.”

”Then say it's Penelope instead, my lady,” suggested Francesca swiftly, propping the picture up against a vase on the table to display it to better advantage. Of course the gift must be for Admiral Nelson, not Sir William, and Francesca thrived on being able to make such quick and accurate conclusions about their patrons. ”Beautiful Penelope waiting for her brave, heroic Odysseus to return. A truly tragic and poignant scene, my lady, and most fitting as a gift.”

”Oh, my, yes!” exclaimed Lady Hamilton with satisfied delight. She leaned forward, sweeping her finger in an oval around the drawing's face. ”Penelope I shall be, and most clever of you to describe it so, little Robin. Have it set up in a simple gold frame, like so, with perhaps a bit of a wreath to give it a Roman air. Such a pretty conceit! I wonder that you don't go to London, little Robin. Your gifts would make you the fas.h.i.+on at once, and you'd make your fortune in no time at all.”

”Grazie, my lady,” said Francesca, smiling demurely, as was expected. Her father had described London as a cold, crowded place that smothered artists, full of grim, serious people like Captain Lord Ramsden, and gray, sooty buildings, and as unlike the cheerful, sunny disorder of Naples as any place could be. The only part he'd missed had been his brother John. The sicker Papa had become, the more he'd spoken of John, and not having the chance to see him again before he died had been one of Papa's few regrets. ”I am quite content here in Napoli.”

”But you see, that is exactly what I mean!” cried her ladys.h.i.+p with her usual enthusiasm for arranging others' lives. ”You would be a great exotic for them there. You say your sweet grazie, grazie, and the gentlemen will come running to nibble from your very palm. You have beauty and charm, and you draw and paint like an angel. Oh, yes, how they would love you in London!”

Francesca's smile grew more forced. She had no difficulty charming young English gentlemen into purchases when she knew they were only visiting Naples, soon to leave for the next city on their tour. It was a game to her, bartering back and forth with an edge of meaningless flirtation. The extravagant, exotic fas.h.i.+on in which she dressed to receive them, the way she smiled and laughed and flattered them-it was all simply part of the pretty experience she was selling to them along with a painting or vase, a story to tell and embellish for the envious friends at home. None of it meant more than that to Francesca. All that mattered was how much of their foreign money they managed to leave behind.

But everything would be much more complicated if she were to try her same coaxing coquetry in London, the home of so many of those same touring young gentlemen and a place where gossip was practically shouted from the chimney pots. And if she behaved as foolishly with even one of those young gentlemen as she had with Captain Lord Ramsden-oh, it didn't bear considering.

”I've no wish to leave Napoli, my lady,” she said more firmly. She slid her chalks into her leather workbag and began untying the front of the rough linen smock she wore to protect her gown. ”It's my home, and always has been.”

”Then let me be frank.” Lady Hamilton settled on the edge of the chair next to Francesca, and took both her hands in her own. ”In this emba.s.sy, I hear many things, my dear, and all of them say that you would be wise to leave Naples while you still can. You don't want to be here when the French take the city, or worse, when your own Neapolitan mob takes the king.”

”But that cannot be!” cried Francesca, unconsciously squeezing the older woman's hands. ”Everyone says our army has routed the French to the north, that soon they shall reclaim Rome!”

”Then everyone is wrong, little Robin,” said her ladys.h.i.+p sadly. ”King Ferdinand's army did win one battle, yes, but they are no match for Napoleon and never were. It will be the talk of Naples soon enough, and it's already bubbling like a vile brew through the back alleys and markets. Sir William and the admiral both fear the French will be here before the new year, and you, with your English father and your pictures of kings and queens-you must be gone before they do.”

Her ladys.h.i.+p had no reason to lie to her, or even to exaggerate, yet at the same time Francesca could not imagine that affairs could possibly be as bad as Lady Hamilton was describing. She might be half-English, but she was also half Neapolitan, and she couldn't believe her country, with its fine army, was in such peril. Lady Hamilton would naturally present the pessimistic English view, that their navy and their army were the only ones fit to protect the world against the republican madmen, just as she must certainly wish to live in London.

”You must have suspected this would happen, my dear,” continued her ladys.h.i.+p gently. ”Hasn't your trade fallen off? No one wishes to journey here for pleasure now. Sir William and I have had fewer guests this year than I can ever recall, and those were mainly fleeing from the armies in the north.”

”But my lady-”

”All I ask is that you consider it, my dear,” said her ladys.h.i.+p. ”Advice is all Sir William and I can offer to you, you know, for you are not exactly an Englishwoman or our responsibility. No. But a small convoy of merchant s.h.i.+ps will be leaving for Portsmouth with an English escort next week. You could yourself easily find pa.s.sage with one of them.”

”But what you are asking, my lady! To abandon my home, my studio, all my belongings for the sake of a rumor!”

Lady Hamilton sighed, and shook her head. ”I would not wish it known through the city, and especially not at the palace, but in those same s.h.i.+ps, Sir William is sending the choicest articles of his private collection.”

”I do not-”

”Hush, and listen. There will be room in the hold for your best things as well. Not the rubbish you keep in your front rooms for show, but the good pieces that your father collected, the real ones. Let those be sent to safety. As insurance, if you will, in the event that you must flee later yourself. Then you could make your own way in London without-what is it, Rudolpho?”

The footman in the sky-blue Hamilton livery bowed. ”A gentleman for the admiral, mia signora. Another officer.”

”Another officer?” Lady Hamilton sighed irritably as she rose, flicking her white muslin skirts impatiently to one side. ”Another officer, another officer. Will they never leave the poor, dear man alone to rest?”

The footman bowed again. ”He says his business is most urgent, mia signora.”

”It always is, isn't it?” She sighed again, this time with resignation, as she briskly folded the blue shawl over her arm. ”Ah, well, I cannot turn him away, no matter how much I might wish to.”

”Then it's well that we are done for this day, my lady,” said Francesca as she hurried to gather her belongings together. ”I'll deliver the framed drawing myself on-”

”No, no, do not desert me just yet!” ordered her ladys.h.i.+p with a regal wave of her plump white hand. ”You shall stay and help me amuse this fellow until Sir William and the admiral return. Certain of these officers can be quite p.r.i.c.kly toward me, you know, so you must help me divert him. Rudolpho, what name did this urgent officer give?”

Rudolpho bowed one last time as he backed through the doorway. ”Captain Lord Edward Ramsden, mia signora.”