The Portrait Read Free Page B

you exactly as I see you today. It would serve her right. But no.
'Twould be unfair to you. You're just one more helpless pawn."
    Stepping back, he gestured to Mattie. "You there, bring your mistress the chair. Yes,
that's right. The one you're sitting in. Bring it here."
    He took the straight wooden chair from Mattie's hands and set it in the approximate
place where the stool had been. Pointing, he said, "Give me the shawl!"
    I took one step but Mattie had picked it up before I could bend for it. He snatched it
from her hands and tossed it across the chair. After a few adjustments in how it draped, he said,
"There. Sit."
    I sat.
    Impersonally he repositioned my arms and legs until he was satisfied. All the while he
muttered to himself. "...show the line of thigh...tempting but untouchable...the aching
vulnerability of youth...magnificent poitrine ...ivory's not the right word either...how to
catch that color...incredible mouth...taste like sun-warmed raspberries..."
    Something about his voice, his half-heard words, caused a small fluttering of the
midriff-creatures.
    He posed me sideways on the chair, my left arm resting on its back, my hand dangling.
My right arm stretched back to the edge of the seat and supported me. My head was thrown back,
my eyes directed at the juncture of wall and ceiling behind his easel. Holding the pose would be
a strain. Remembering the silly twit appellation, I resolved to do so until I collapsed
from sheer exhaustion.
    "Raise your skirt."
    "I beg your pardon." Without thinking I turned my head to stare at him.
    "Damn it, girl, I told you not to move."
    Quickly I resumed the pose. Surely I had heard wrongly.
    "Chin a bit higher. There, that's it. Now, raise your skirt. Show a bit of ankle."
    I ignored him. How dare he!
    He sketched in silence for several minutes. Suddenly he threw his charcoal stick to the
floor and strode to where I sat. His big hand grasped my hem and pulled it above my knee.
    "Sir!" Mattie cried, "Unhand my mistress!"
    He turned to glower at her. "Sit down!" he thundered. "It's not your place to interfere
between me and my subject. If I want to strip her naked, I will."
    For some reason the possibility intrigued rather than terrified me.
    Mattie hesitated, and then she almost ran from the room. Her steps echoed on the
uncarpeted stairs as she sped away--to enlist Mother's defense, surely.
    "That's too much leg," Mr. Sutherland said, as if nothing had occurred. "Have you a
pin?"
    I gaped.
    "Oh, for God's sake girl, must I repeat everything? Have you a pin?"
    As a matter of fact, I did, for the magenta ribbon had insisted on drooping at the back,
and Mattie had pinned it into place. I told him where he could find the pin.
    His hands fumbled briefly. I felt their heat through the layers of velvet, lace and satin as
if they were sheerest gauze.
    After some trials, he finally got the lace and satin to drape as he wanted, exposing my
slipper and perhaps a hand's width of my ankle. One might have seen more as I mounted a
carriage step. Certainly he had seen as much each time I'd climbed upon the tall stool.
    No sooner had he finished his task than we heard steps ascending the stairs. "Bother," he
muttered. He stood and stepped back from me.
    Mother burst through the doorway. Before she could utter a word, Mr. Sutherland said,
"Lady Curran, such interference as I was just subject to is intolerable. I've half a mind to refuse
to carry on."
    Mother's mouth worked, much like a freshly caught fish. At last she found her voice. "I
was led to believe...that is, Mattie said..."
    "Is a servant capable of judging an artist's actions?" His pose and his tone said that he
was but one step removed from the gods. "How dare she presume to question my
purposes?"
    "But she said--"
    "Lady Curran, I am attempting to arrive at the appropriate pose so that your daughter's
portrait will show her true beauty. The process is one of trial and error. It might be best if the
servant were excluded from this room