Pearls before SWINE

So, what finally made you change your mind about having your portrait painted, Lady Graystone?’

Her Ladyship gave a small laugh. ‘Oh, come now, Sally. It seems a little silly still to be calling me Lady Graystone. Call me Vanessa. Or…’ she added, feeling a little daring, ‘Ness, if you like.’

Lady Graystone knew Sally wouldn’t be so familiar. She also knew that the artist didn’t really care about why she had finally dropped her long-held opposition to having her picture painted. It was just another tactic to keep her sitter from becoming bored or fidgety.

But she needn’t have worried. Lady Graystone was quite comfortable reclining on the chaise longue as the artist painted her. And she’d found the whole process so liberating and interesting that there had never been the least danger of her becoming bored.

Besides, today was the final sitting, and very soon now, she would see the