Flora led us past a row of Catharina’s paintings hanging on the wall in their glass frames. Jeanette had generously sent the reproductions a few days ago. The Marriage was there, as well as Catharina’s portrait of her brother Crispijn. The ultimate prize, of course, would be having Catharina’s missing painting hung in the place of honour beside the dress. I had emailed Johann de Witte three times last week to tell him about the exhibition. I was hoping he might be tempted by the idea of seeing the silk dress in person and I had begged shamelessly for a chance to speak to him about the van Shurman painting I believed he had in his possession. There had been nothing but silence, though, and I’d all but given up hope of hearing from him. It was a disappointment I would simply have to bear.

‘Olivia said you wanted to know more about the Texel orphanage and its connection to Catharina,’ Flora said, turning to Marieke and myself. ‘Why don’t we go upstairs and take a look?’ She led us up into the archival area and after rummaging in a drawer, pulled out a pile of facsimiles.

‘These aren’t original,’ she said. ‘But they were copied before the old letters fell to bits. They’re from the first nuns who took care of orphans on the island. The children used to sell the well water to the sailors. It had special properties. It was tainted with iron so it kept for much longer than normal water. Men could go to sea for months and never need to stop in at a port for fresh water supplies. Anyway, I thought you might find these interesting.’

I flicked through the letters. There had been two Abbesses during Anna’s time. One was a woman called Yolente. Yolente had written to the local landowners, begging for alms for her young orphans. Then her letters petered out. The next ones were written by someone called Agneta Corrin who had taken over from Yolente after her death. Continuing to shuffle through, I saw a letter from Agneta addressed directly to Catharina van Shurman. I pounced on it, scanning the contents greedily. It had been sent via an emissary to Catharina van Shurman’s address in France, the postal date recorded as 1658, a few years after Anna’s death.