‘What did you say to her?’ said Opie swiftly, before Darton could respond.
‘I assured her that I would not take advantage of her,’ said Cosway.
‘At that stage,’ muttered Darton. Opie glanced towards him warningly.
‘In the last three years she has become a woman,’ said Cosway. ‘Are we here to gauge my levels of morality against yours, or do you wish to hear her story? Because let me assure you, if we were to play the former game, I am far from sure I would lose.’
Opie opened his mouth to reply angrily, but Darton silenced him with a warning glance.
‘I will take that as an indication that I can continue,’ said Cosway. ‘I did not feel at that point that I could offer her lodgings myself. By chance I was meeting Thomas Provis in a coffee house – he had procured me a small statue I had been looking for for some time. His mother had just died, so I found myself mentioning the girl since she too had been recently orphaned. To my amazement he said he would take her in.’
He shook his head, as if still in disbelief.
‘He said he would pretend she was his daughter. It was much later that I discovered his own daughter had been born in the same year as this girl. At that point I just knew that she had to be abducted fast from Mrs Gage’s establishment before someone even less scrupulous than myself decided to ruin her.’
Darton folded his arms. ‘So you both rescued her?’
Cosway’s eyelids closed and opened rapidly.
‘I do not pretend to be a virtuous man. I did wonder about the wisdom of what we had done. I think the sudden experience of fatherhood unnerved Thomas Provis. He found the task of providing her with a new life rather harder than he had anticipated.’
‘It does not any more,’ declared Opie. His voice quiet and intense.
‘No, it is interesting isn’t it?’ Cosway paused for a moment. ‘Grief works in strange ways. In Thomas Provis’s case, after concealing his bereavement for years, he has now found something rather better than the ghost of his daughter to love. He has proved most possessive.’ His lip curled disdainfully.
There was silence in the room for a moment as the men absorbed what Cosway was saying.
Darton rubbed his forehead, as if to dispel an ache. ‘Is she happy to play his daughter?’
‘She has clearly thrived. I believe her real father spent most of his time at work, either seeing patients or corresponding with scientific societies. He and her grandmother hired tutors so that she had an education. Her painting tutor, Septimus Green, appears to have had a particularly strong effect. But the doctor himself was not interested in the girl. In a strange way, Thomas Provis may have proved the truer parent.’
‘We know now that her name is not Ann Jemima,’ said Opie.
‘I think her name is for the girl to tell you,’ said Cosway. ‘We have all known her as Ann Jemima for the last four years. Certainly I intend to carry on referring to her in that way – if you gentlemen will permit.’
Now he stared intently at Opie.
‘So what implications does this have for the manuscript?’ Opie found himself asking. ‘If the girl’s identity is counterfeit, then did she inherit it from her family? Or is it stolen?’
‘The Venetian Secret is a situation which has,’ Cosway coughed, ‘spun rather out of control. It was Ann Jemima’s conception. As you can imagine, after spending time in a madam’s house, she never wanted to find herself in a position where she was financially destitute again. So she herself put together the formula.’
Opie looked incredulously, first to Cosway, then to Darton, then back to Cosway again.
‘You are telling me that she wrote the manuscript herself?’
‘She,’ Cosway coughed, ‘had a little help.’
‘From?’ Opie pointed at Cosway. Cosway looked down for a moment. ‘I cannot take a huge amount of credit. I introduced her to various treatises on colour. She is a very clever young woman. Septimus Green was a young friend of her father’s. He needed money to pursue his interest in practising science. So the doctor came to an arrangement that he could teach his daughter art. Being Ann Jemima she worked out what his true fascination was, and made it her fascination as well.’
‘So the language of formulas was well within her grasp.’ Opie shook his head. ‘How much of it did she write?’
‘It was a little rough when she brought it to me,’ Cosway said. ‘Some crude elements had to be removed. I helped give it an air of authenticity. But it could never have been what it is without her efforts. Nor, indeed, her ability to paint.’
Opie’s laugh came from the pit of his stomach – it became a howl as it reached his throat, and the tears sprang from his eyes.
‘And Thomas Provis’s merchant grandfather? All invented too?’
‘No, he did exist. He traded in Bengal and East India, and then he went to Venice. But all he brought back with him from the latter, I fear, was a case of the clap. No secrets from Titian.’
Darton started whistling. He walked backwards and forwards up and down the room.
‘The confidence in her own ability needed to do this… the extraordinary cleverness.’ The words trailed away. ‘What did you think would happen when she and Provis presented the manuscript to West?’ he said, turning to Cosway.
‘I was not sure. I thought there was a possibility he would see through the device and reject it. But equally I thought he may view it as a curiosity, and give her some of the money she asked for. What none of us had anticipated was that he would try and cheat the Provises.’
‘Even though he was not truly cheating them,’ pointed out Opie.
‘As far as he was concerned, he was,’ said Cosway. ‘The irony is that if he had handed over the money straight away – or even a fraction of the sum they had initially asked for, the whole affair would have ended there.’
Darton sat down. ‘A lot of money was at stake. Did that not worry you?’ His voice was stern now.
‘I was sure that West would not pay more than he wanted to,’ Cosway replied. ‘He is something of a self-regarding fool,’ he continued. ‘I did not think the world would be a worse place if his foolishness were proved, and he had slightly less money.’
‘You yourself could have given money to her,’ said Opie.
‘My financial situation is somewhat complex.’ Cosway regarded him as if the suggestion were vulgar. ‘Besides, she is not looking for charity. She wanted to feel she was earning her independence.’
‘You are betraying me.’
The voice was quiet but unmistakable. All three men looked towards the door in shock. There she stood, dressed in dark blue, imperious, disdainful. Thomas Provis was at her side. ‘After all the indignities I have had to suffer to keep your silence.’
A tremble of anger in the word ‘indignities’. The pale blue eyes like ice.
Cosway leapt up. ‘My dear… I did not hear anyone let you in.’
‘Do not call me “my dear”.’ Her fury controlled, deadly. ‘You could not endure the thought that finally I had the means to keep you quiet.’
Provis walked into the centre of the room.
‘How is your thigh, Mr Cosway?’ Cosway flinched slightly. ‘Mr Darton is a witness too,’ Provis continued with menace. ‘He encountered Ann Jemima in some distress after she had fled from your house. Between us, we have enough influence to bring you to trial.’
‘You dare attempt it?’ Cosway replied. ‘When all of us in this room now know you and your plan are not what you claim? You are willing to lose £600 and risk imprisonment yourselves?’
‘What did you tell Mr Darton and Mr Opie?’ she asked. ‘What was your price?’
‘On this count at least,’ said Darton, ‘it is myself who you must blame. I wanted to find out the hold this wretch,’ he gestured to Cosway, ‘had over you. Some business took me near Yarlington, so I visited.’ He looked directly at Provis. ‘I suspect I need not tell you what I found there.’
There was no sign of remorse on the girl’s face at this p
oint. Merely an increased contempt.
‘It seems your business takes you wherever it pleases you, Mr Darton. I should congratulate you for your considerable efforts.’
The look on Provis’s face at Darton’s revelation, by contrast, was of devastation.
‘I shall take what I discovered there to the grave,’ Darton said looking at him. ‘I am disgusted that Mr Cosway sought to profit from it. How did you know?’
He swung round.
‘I was with the royal household when it travelled through Yarlington five years ago.’
His eyes flicker to Provis.
‘The man I talked to was not entirely clear about Mr Provis’s innocence.’
‘That is your favourite territory, is it not, Mr Cosway?’ Ann Jemima’s eyes blazed. ‘You seek out ambiguity, and breed maggots in it.’
The look that she flung towards Cosway at this point was arrow-sharp – he winced at it, even though his smile remained in place.
‘In terms of the manuscript,’ continued Darton, ‘we admire your cleverness perhaps even more than we did before.’ He turned to Ann Jemima. ‘Yet several people are being defrauded of a large sum of money. You have both suffered greatly. But that is still wrong.’
‘I thought Mr Opie had guessed on the day of the demonstration,’ she replied. ‘You were clearly unimpressed by the method. Why did you say nothing then?’
‘I was trying to work out why someone of your ability was bothering with the method,’ Opie declared evenly. ‘I felt there must be some good reason, so I stayed my counsel till I knew more.’
For a moment the expression on her face softened.
‘You are an honourable and clever man. The person I have respected most in all my dealings with the Academy.’
They stared at each other for a moment, then quickly he looked away.
‘Yet Darton is right,’ he said quietly. ‘West’s crime was one of theft, but yours is one of fraud. How shall this be resolved?’
‘I think it bears pointing out that no one – with the exception of Mr Opie – is revealed in a particularly good light by this incident,’ declared Cosway sardonically. ‘Before you entered, I was explaining that it was only Benjamin West’s dishonesty that made your scheme as profitable as it has proved to be.’
There was a silence.
‘And then there was the mixture of envy and vanity that has led the other artists to demand their share in it,’ she declared briskly.
‘Indeed,’ said Cosway. ‘Envy, vanity,’ he paused, ‘and greed have all helped your cause. An unholy trio of vices.’
The girl surveyed them all. She was starting to breathe slightly faster now, as her anger receded and the white heat of fear started to set in.
‘What am I to expect from you now, gentlemen? Are you going to expose my crime to the Academy?’
Even in her fear she maintained her dignity, though, Opie noticed, she had started to tremble. Again he looked over to Darton. For a moment the noise from the street became clearer to all of them, as if the windows and walls had briefly become thinner, more permeable to outside influences. Shouts of coach drivers, the rhythmic clacking of horses’ hooves, little flutters of passing conversation – all signs that some kind of normality was continuing at a point when it felt it had deserted their own company.
‘Why could you have not used your talents honestly?’ said Opie finally.
She took a deep breath.
‘I felt I would merely have been allowed to become a curiosity before being married off and having my claws removed.’
‘I cannot imagine the man who could tame you,’ he replied quietly.
Her eyes flashed.
A brief silence ensued.
‘So what are you going to do?’ she finally asked.
Provis growled. He looked at Darton. ‘I know this is a world without justice. But if we go to prison and Cosway does not…’ Darton nodded in understanding. ‘We came here to offer our silence in return for his silence,’ Provis continued. He surveyed Cosway venomously.
There was a mild but discernible tremor in Cosway’s voice as he responded. ‘You are right. The time for playing with people’s lives is over.’ He looked at his fellow artists. ‘Though we still have no idea what Mr Darton and Mr Opie are going to do with what they know.’
Provis looked quickly towards Darton. Opie started to pace backwards and forwards.
Cosway took a deep breath. ‘If I may make a suggestion,’ he said quietly, ‘and try to atone for my own sins in this situation, I think this all has ample opportunity to resolve itself without any kind of confession. Mr Opie, after all, has not been the only naysayer of the method.’
‘No indeed,’ replied Opie.
He turned towards the girl. At this, for the first time, he saw her cheeks flush.
‘There have been plenty of chances for people to stand back from the scheme,’ he continued. ‘Maybe we can let this situation play itself out without interfering – at this stage.’
‘So you are not going to expose me?’
‘You already have the money?’
She nodded. ‘I believe the method is good, I believe that it has genuine worth. Not as much as if it had come from Titian’s studio.’ Her voice fills with emotion. ‘But I did not work on it cynically. I too wanted to find the secret of how he used his colours.’
‘And according to Benjamin West, you almost did,’ said Opie quietly. ‘I hope that you at least can take from this the knowledge that you are far, far better than your manuscript.’
She did not reply.
Darton looked directly at Cosway.
‘How much would you say the method was worth, if it were not ascribed to Titian’s studio?’
He rubbed his forehead.
‘Fifty pounds if you were not being generous. Up to two hundred if you were. So much of it is a matter of opinion.’
‘Keep two hundred pounds, and stay out of the clutches of men like this,’ Darton said brusquely to Ann Jemima. ‘The rest you must return to the Academy, in whatever manner you decide.’
That sense of a barely audible ringing in the room was discernible again – they all looked at each other, faintly dazed.
‘What is your name?’ Opie eventually asked.
She looked at him, then dipped her head. ‘Jane,’ came the brief reply. ‘Jane Emerson.’ She looked up again. ‘Though it is so long since I have used it, I hear it as if it is the name of a stranger. I would prefer it if you continued to call me Ann Jemima.’
She turned and looked over coldly towards Cosway, who attempted a smile but failed. The expression on her face when she looked at Darton was more difficult to discern – it was angry and watchful at the same time. She swept round and left the room, throwing a quick backward glance towards Opie. Provis followed shortly behind her.
A few moments later the men heard the front door slam. The silence that followed lasted for some considerable time. It was broken by Cosway standing up and walking out of the room without saying a word. When Darton and Opie finally left it was without formal goodbyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The lamentations of Thomas Provis
‘The thoughts of our minde can conceive the images of any thing, sayth Tullie. Our thought can conceive any Country, sayth another, and fashion in it such a situation of place as may best agree with our liking. Maximus Tyrius presseth this same point somewhat neerer, when he maintaineth that Invention is proper and naturall unto the minde of man: see Max. Tyrius Dissert. xxviii. Although then a man, for as much as he is a man, cannot but be full of Invention; yet such men as have studied do excell in their Inventions.’
franciscus junius,
The Painting of the Ancients, 1638
In the dream Thomas Provis has repeatedly over the next couple of months, he is in a hot air balloon. It rises from St James’s Palace into a pale blue sky, but as the crowd below gasps and cheers all he is aware of are the squeaks and whines of the wicker basket. His hands tremble as the
y hold tightly to the edges, he is conscious of the sweat on his temples. The louder the cheers become the more sickened he feels. Then he looks up and sees the black cloud.
Yet it isn’t a black cloud. The way it moves is different. As it comes closer he realises it is a murmuration of starlings, striping themselves against the winter sky. The first time they pass over, he becomes aware of the vibrations of hundreds of tiny wings. As they pass again he sees that some are breaking out of the flock to peck at the balloon. At first they have no impact. The balloon continues to rise, and the starlings swoop and dance around him. Then all the birds start pecking at the balloon at once, and it pops, yet still he is suspended in the air. He looks down at his feet, which are treading the air as if he were in water. It is at this point that he normally wakes up.
Though Darton and Opie have assured him that they will not reveal the secret, he does not trust them. His worries devour him from the inside, he feels like a silhouette of a man. The method has been sold, and now the artists of the Academy are preparing their paintings, ready for the critics to confer their final judgement. With every week that passes, Provis and Ann Jemima find the demands to pronounce on the latest experiments becoming more and more urgent.
It is on the second visit to Farington that Provis feels the first fluttering in his chest – as if one of the starlings has become trapped inside him. At first it is mild, but soon it becomes so strong that he has to sit down, coughing. Both Ann Jemima and Farington turn to him in concern, but he waves their anxieties away. He takes a few deep breaths and feels the fluttering die away.
Thoughts jab at his mind all the time now. It was only the daze of bereavement that made him offer to take the girl in. His mother had just died. Wounds had opened up that he thought could give him pain no longer. New grief breeds with old grief, he had ruminated. He regretted the passing of his mother. But he regretted more that it made the grief for his wife and his daughter bleed afresh. The horrors of a decade and a half beforehand walked beside him once more. He talked to his wife and daughter in dreams, wept when the cold mornings woke him and they were no longer there.
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