‘Before I let you go,’ Olivia said, ‘I wanted to let you know I found something in the archives that might shed some light on Catharina van Shurman’s connection to Texel. Catharina appears to have made a substantial donation to the Texel children’s orphanage fund in the winter of 1652.’

‘Really?’ I said, a prickle of excitement tingling at the base of my skull. ‘Why would she do that?’

‘I’m not sure. But it’s possible she struck up a friendship with one of the Abbesses in charge of the orphanage. The Abbesses were very persistent – they often wrote to anyone famous or successful, begging for donations to feed and house and clothe their young charges. They saw it as part of their calling. Next time you’re free, I can show you where the old orphanage used to stand. The building’s all gone, of course. We started a petition to save the old stone well. That’s all that’s left of the orphanage now.’

She hung up, leaving me to contemplate the connection between Catharina and the Texel orphanage. I’d have to investigate Olivia’s suggestion of the Abbess who might have befriended such a famous artist. She must have been charismatic, I thought. Or had something else which appealed to Catharina’s prickly nature. Why else would the artist have parted with her money so willingly? People had probably written to her all the time asking for funds. What made Texel so special?

I’d called Nico next and asked to speak Anneke.

‘What’s up?’ Anneke said, sighing down the phone as if my call was a grave imposition that had interrupted some extremely important event. But I knew better than to let her attitude bother me. I had once possessed a similar nature, after all.

‘I’ve been given approval to help coordinate the exhibition of the dress and the other artefacts brought up from La Dragon,’ I told her. ‘I want you to help me. Olivia and Flora will be doing most of the legwork on the exhibition space but there’s promotional material to coordinate and I need someone to field phone calls from the media and send out invitations. Oh, and I’ll need you standing by to assist when the other artefacts arrive from the mainland. I’ll need a commitment from you of a few hours a week. You could do the work after school. I’ll pay you, of course. What do you say? Are you in?’

Anneke made a hmm-ing sound then allowed the silence to stretch. I waited patiently.

‘OK,’ she said, at last. ‘I’m in.’

‘Come on,’ Gerrit said. ‘I want to show you something.’

He led us through a deserted staff room and outside to the seal enclosures.

A young man hosing down an empty tank waved hello as we passed.

Gerrit waved back. ‘Hey, Greg. How are my girls today?’