“Open,” he said, and she walked in, wincing a little at the painting mounted on his easel. His clothes, as usual, were daubed with paint, even his beard had flecks of green, but although she disliked his work—as he knew by now—he had studied in Paris as well as New York, and his work had begun to sell.
“More snakes,” she said with a sigh, looking at the painting on his easel.
“My dear Madame Karitska,” he said, “snakes and serpents have been the most hated, most worshiped of creatures on this planet. In history they’ve been symbols of good, evil, immortality, healing, fertility. Snakes are the signature of my work. And,” he added with a boyish smile, “they have begun to sell, and for good prices. What can I do for you?”
“If the young woman who sketched this comes back,” she said, showing him Betsy Oliver’s sketch, “what can I suggest to her?”
He leaned close to look at it, not touching it with his paint-stained fingers. He said flatly, “I hate her—at once I hate her; she draws better than I ever could.”
Madame Karitska smiled. “Yes, but if she returns, Kristan? She has no confidence, no money.…”
He sighed, and then with a shrug, “Then you’d better send her up to me. I have connections; I will even do my best to conceal my envy—my outrage—at such spontaneity.”
Madame Karitska leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she said, and left.
By Dorothy Gilman
Published by Fawcett Books:
CARAVAN
UNCERTAIN VOYAGE
A NUN IN THE CLOSET
THE CLAIRVOYANT COUNTESS
THE TIGHTROPE WALKER
INCIDENT AT BADAMY
THALE’S FOLLY
THE BELLS OF FREEDOM
THE MAZE IN THE HEART OF THE CASTLE
GIRL IN BUCKSKIN
The Mrs. Pollifax series
THE UNEXPECTED MRS. POLLIFAX
THE AMAZING MRS. POLLIFAX
THE ELUSIVE MRS. POLLIFAX
A PALM FOR MRS. POLLIFAX
MRS. POLLIFAX ON SAFARI
MRS. POLLIFAX ON THE CHINA STATION
MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE HONG KONG BUDDHA
MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE WHIRLING DERVISH
MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF
MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED
MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE LION KILLER
MRS. POLLIFAX, INNOCENT TOURIST
MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED
Nonfiction
A NEW KIND OF COUNTRY
The Clairvoyant Countess Page 20
