The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque Read Online Free PDF Page A

well as contemporaries of mine. We passed through a study lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with leather-bound volumes, and then down a hallway
    paneled with aromatic cedar, no doubt from Lebanon.
    Finally we came to a room at the very back of the house. My guide opened the door and stepped aside, motioning with his hand for me to enter. As I did, it struck me that Watkin had navigated the entire journey through the heavily furnished rooms without a hitch. I didn't remember so much as one of his fingers touching a wall to find his place.
    I found myself alone in a large, nearly empty space. There were no adornments here, and there was hardly any furniture to speak of. The ceilings were at least fifteen feet high, and there were two arched windows on either of the side walls. The left-hand view was of a fading rose garden in the rain, a few pale yellow petals still clinging to stems. The opposite view showed a piece of the neighboring house, its architecture silhouetted against the drab sky. To the very left at the back, there was an open door, revealing a shadowed stairway leading up. The floor was magnifi-cent, of a pale maple inlaid with arabesques of a darker wood and waxed to a high sheen. The walls were papered with a green and gold floral design on a cream back-ground. At the very center of the room there stood a screen, five feet tall, consisting of three panels in hinged cherrywood frames. On these panels, the color of old parchment, was depicted a scene of falling brown leaves.
    Positioned in front of the screen was a simple wooden chair with a short back and wide armrests.
    Watkin, who had stepped into the room behind me and shut the door, said, "You are to sit in the chair.
    My employer will be with you momentarily." I walked forward, my steps echoing as I went, and did as I
    was told. The moment I sat down, I heard the door open and close again.
    I was excited at the prospect of finally meeting my patron, and concentrated on gaining a modicum of com-posure so as to better represent myself when she appeared. The item I focused on in order to effect this was the subject of what price I would ask for the commission. If Watkin had spoken truthfully, she was willing to part with an extraordinary amount of money. I smiled at the great sums that slithered through my thoughts like eels, and practiced whispering one to see if I could speak it in a voice that would not betray my awareness of how ridicu-lous it was.
    The first sounded convincing enough, but when I tried a number a few digits higher, I was startled by a vague noise from behind the screen in front of me.
    "Hello?" I said.
    There was no response, and 1 was beginning to think that the insubstantial sound of someone clearing his throat had come from my own conscience, directed at my plan of artistic piracy. As I Page 11

    was about to return to my prices, the sound came again.
    "Hello, Mr. Piambo," said a soft, female voice.
    I froze for a moment and then spoke loudly enough to indicate my embarrassment. "I didn't know anyone was there."
    "Yes. Well." She paused slightly, and I leaned forward. "You may call me Mrs.Charbuque," she said.
    The Only Stipulation
    I tried to recall if I had ever heard the name before, but nothing came to mind. "Very well then,"
    I
    said. "A pleas-ure to make your acquaintance."
    "Watkin tells me that you have agreed to paint my portrait," she said, the panels of the screen lightly vibrat-ing the sound of her words.
    "If we can make the appropriate arrangement, I am quite interested," I said.
    Then she mentioned a sum that was far beyond even the most dazzling I had dared to consider.
    I couldn't help myself. Taking a deep breath, I said, "That a lot of money."
    is
    "Yes," she said.
    "I don't want to seem impertinent, Mrs. Charbuque, but may I ask why we are speaking with this screen between us?"
    "Because you may not see me, Mr. Piambo," she said.
    "How then am I to paint you if I cannot see you?" I asked, laughing.
    "Did