‘When those men brought your sister to us on your mother’s behalf, there was an agreement that we would keep her for a year until they could decide what was to be done with her. Now you tell me you would like to change this arrangement. So I must ask you, sir, what recompense will you offer in order to secure your sister’s freedom? The total outstanding amount is one hundred guilders, less the thirty guilders still owing for this year. That covers her bed and board since the first instalment.’

Crispijn frowns and Anna can tell this is unexpected news. His plan to pluck Griet from the convent’s grasp relied on manipulation and acting. He never considered the money.

The door opens suddenly and Griet appears, guided inside by Sister Marie. Anna is shocked to find herself in the room with a figure she has only ever seen in Catharina’s sketches and paintings. In person, Griet’s features are very different to those captured on canvas – her nose is long, her cheeks angular, the skin mottled with dark spots. Her pale eyes are deeply set and her head has been shaved. She is not at all the beautiful, ethereal creature of Catharina’s paintings, but she is a real, living person. How strange love is, that it can blind even an artist of Catharina’s calibre.

Griet shuffles past them, stares in confusion. Anna breaks the tense silence by standing up and crossing the room. Grasping Griet’s shoulders, she embraces her.

‘Dear sister,’ she says. ‘How I’ve missed you.’

Griet’s body is thin and bony beneath the shapeless grey shift and she smells of body odour and unwashed hair.

‘We’ve come to bring you home,’ Anna says loudly. ‘You belong with us.’

Aware of the Abbess watching them closely, she presses Griet to her even tighter.

‘We can pay,’ Crispijn says. He pulls out a purse, the coins inside chinking as he throws it onto the desk. ‘Here is thirty. That’s all I have brought with me and it will more than cover the costs owing for the remainder of the year. I will send you the rest when we return to Amsterdam. I’m willing to overlook your counting skills, Madam, as I know the work you are doing here is God’s work.’

The Abbess’ eyes flash greedily. Unknotting the bag, she tips the guilders out onto the desk, raking over them with gnarled fingers. The coins gleam in the sunlight breaking through the diamond-shaped window. With a last grunt, she nods.

‘Take her then, and have done. We will not miss her disruptive behaviour. I expect the rest of the fee to be sent within the month. Sister Marie will see you out.’

They leave her recounting the coins, preparing to record them in the open ledger.

Sister Marie asks Griet if she would like to go up and fetch her belongings. Griet shakes her head.