Catharina glares. ‘How can you say that? There is no safety for women like Griet. You have always set yourself against us. I am doing this portrait, with or without your permission.’ Crispijn begins to speak but his sister hunches away, cutting off further communication. Anna feels caught between them, exhausted by their constant fighting. She’s glad when the carriage rattles to a stop outside the house and Henrick appears to guide her along the darkened pathway to Mrs Hartog, a glowing lantern casting a pool of light around her stocky figure, banishing the shadows on her creased face.

In the hallway, Catharina and Crispijn shed their cloaks in silence. Anna imagines them as children, coming in from the cold. She remembers Catharina describing how they used to skate together when the river froze. In typical fashion, Catharina always wanted to venture further, travelling up the river to finds its source.

‘Praise be to God that Crispijn was there to pull me back,’ she’d said. ‘No doubt, I would have fallen in and drowned. If we were a windmill, I would be the sails, full of air, and Crispijn the millstone, anchoring me to the earth. He has always tethered me. We need each other, even if we do not always get along.’

Watching them now, Anna fears they will never mend their disagreement. What if they decide their life together is no longer tenable? What if they break up the household, leaving her and the other servants stranded?

Crispijn bids Anna a curt goodnight. Anna expects Catharina to sleep, too. But her mistress flings herself at the writing desk in the front room and draws a piece of parchment towards her. After writing on it and signing her name with a flourish, she stamps her letter with the family crest and hands it to Anna, asking her to ensure Henrick delivers it to Maarten’s estate first thing in the morning.

‘Make sure my brother doesn’t see you,’ she instructs, her eyes two dark warnings in her flushed face. ‘You may keep the earrings, in exchange for your obedience. I have no use for them. I will soon possess a much greater treasure.’