‘And you thought you’d procure a wife along the way, I see,’ Catharina says. ‘Like a piece of silverware.’

‘Perhaps I should have asked for your advice,’ Maarten counters coldly. ‘Two lady’s companions in quick succession. Let’s pray you can keep this one a little longer than you managed to hold onto Margriet.’

Catharina’s face drains of colour. Sensing her distress, Crispijn interrupts.

‘This has gone far enough,’ he says, briskly. ‘Maarten, we offer you our most hearty congratulations on the occasion of your marriage. You will have to excuse us. My sister is tired and she has many commissions to fulfil over the coming months.’

Maarten pins Blanche to his side, his fingers pressed into her waist, and Anna shudders, thinking of the bruises under the cloth. ‘I’d like to speak to you about a commission of my own. I’d like a painting. A marriage portrait. It will need to be completed before we leave, although I’m sure you can manage, Madam, now you’ve found a reason to renew your creative spirit. We could arrange for the sitting to be done at the Governor’s chambers in Middleburg. I understand Margriet’s family still live there. They’ve recently returned from their own tour of Antwerp and Ghent. Perhaps they could suggest someone to act as intermediary. A relative, perhaps?’

Catharina’s cheeks redden. She opens her mouth to speak, but snaps it shut as Crispijn shoots her a warning look. She staggers a little as she turns, reaching for her brother’s arm, and Anna follows in the siblings’ wake as they cross the threshold. Her skin prickles and she feels the soft threads of destiny binding the two groups together. She fingers the skirt of her mother’s dress for the protection it offers, a talisman against Maarten’s dark, brooding energy and Blanche’s awkwardness.

On their way back to Sterrenwijck, Catharina is restless. Twisting her hands together, she jostles her leg up and down and her gaze swivels from one window to the other, as if the darkness holds hidden worlds of possibilities only she can discern. Crispijn seems more concerned about the impression Maarten left on Anna than he does about Catharina’s restlessness.

‘I apologise for Maarten’s behaviour. He makes everyone uncomfortable. We’ve known each other for years, ever since we were children. We used to play together until our families fell out over a disagreement. There was some talk of money, a loan gone horribly wrong. Our parents refused to have anything to do with Maarten’s family after that.’

‘I was so relieved when Father finally forbade them from visiting,’ Catharina says. ‘Maarten liked to sit on me. I was only small and I wasn’t strong enough to push him off. I had to wait for Crispijn to come along and rescue me. Maarten always lied afterwards, saying he’d tripped and fallen, blaming me for being clumsy and getting in his way. Father would have been so angry if he’d known. He refused to hear any suggestion of Maarten marrying into the family. It was proposed by his family when I turned nineteen, but Father simply laughed it off and said he would as soon as make a deal with the devil than have anything to do with the Horsts.’