The youngest daughter held the bread basket and came to the painter, who snorted, glanced at his pot-bellied wife in the kitchen, picked up the bread, and ate it in a big gulp.

Soon, when the painter had finished eating, and there were still most of the potatoes left on the plate, he stood up, glanced at the children coldly, and walked directly upstairs.

The hostess cautiously walked out of the kitchen, looked at the figure of her husband who disappeared at the end of the stairs, and beckoned to the children, who hula and surrounded them, and the hostess had just picked up an empty plate, and the man's voice came from upstairs coldly: "Catherina! I said, don't give them food! ”

The hostess shrugged apologetically at the children, and brought out a pot of potato soup to the sound of the children swallowing their saliva.

Soon, as night fell, the hostess came to the studio with a candlestick, a coat, and a basket in her hand, and knocked lightly on the door, but this time, she did not push the door open, and whispered directly outside the door: "Vermeer, I have made you coffee, and bread, and put it at the door." ”

"Today I still sleep with the kids."

Through the door of the studio, the painter's muffled voice was heard, "Go! Don't make a noise to disturb me! ”

The hostess breathed a sigh of relief, bent down with great difficulty, brought a cup of coffee from the basket, and carefully placed two slices of snow-white bread on top of the coffee.

Then she continued to climb upwards, but only to the attic.

In the small attic, six children were huddled together, a quilt for girls and a quilt for boys, the difference was only in the color of the quilt, one with the letter G written in pink oil paint, representing the girl, and the other quilt with blue oil paint written on it, with the letter B written on it, representing the boy.

Seeing their mother come in, the children couldn't help but want to cheer, but one by one they covered the mouths of the others, and six pairs of eyes looked at their mother with shining eyes.

The hostess smiled slightly, sat down slowly between the boys and girls, put the basket on the quilt, lifted the curtain on it, and revealed the sandwich made of black bread inside, and she silently made her lips: "Mashed potato sandwich." ”

The children smiled but didn't make a sound, and one by one they picked up the sandwiches and ate them in large gulps.

After eating the sandwich, the youngest daughter was in her arms, biting her ear and whispering, "Mom, can you continue to tell the story today?" ”

The hostess's gaze fell on her youngest son, and she made a silent lip shape again: "Go, my little scout." ”

Nathan tiptoed down the attic barefoot, and soon he came back from the second floor, and made a V-sign to the crowd that represented success, and the children immediately smiled, and the hostess raised her eyebrows, extinguished the candlestick, and let the moonlight leak in from the skylight overhead reflect on her and the children, and told the story softly:

"The young girl did not heed her mother's persuasion, and one night she left her hometown with all her jewels and the painter who came to greet her."

"The painter promised that in the future, he would fill her jewelry box with all kinds of jewelry, he was so talented, and so young, that the girl had no doubt that the young painter would soon emerge and be funded by those noble lords."

“…… The painter fulfilled his promise and bought her a whole box of jewels, and they lived happily together, together," the hostess's voice paused, and her eyes swept over the faces of the children who had fallen asleep, "One, two, three, four, five, six, six children. ”

Before the words fell, her hand touched her belly, and she smiled softly: "Ha, I almost forgot you, the seventh, well, a total of seven children." ”

She slowly closed her eyes.

The dream was a very different picture from her story: at first, the painter did get the approval of the nobles, and he added a lot of jewelry to her according to his promise, but soon, as his paintings became popular, he began to be dissatisfied with painting according to the requirements of the guests.

He believes that the oil painting with the designated theme is a work without a soul.

As a result, he began to slack off and pursue the true works with a soul in his heart.

Life at home began to fall into trouble, and she took jewelry from her half-full jewelry box again and again, first the first pearl necklace she received from her mother when she was seven years old, then the shell brooch given by her father when she was ten years old, one by one, until her eighteen-year-old bar mitzvah gift, all the jewelry she had received from the family, she sold.

Eventually, she began selling the jewelry that the artist had given her.

The pair of pearl earrings was actually the first gift given to her by the artist, and she didn't sell them at first because she was reluctant, but then she didn't sell them because they were too small to sell for a good price.

When she woke up from the dream, she was still in a trance, and soon, sensing the existence of the children around her, she crept up and quietly slipped downstairs.

Looking at the empty kitchen cabinet, the young housewife sighed helplessly, took out the only piece of bread that was left, stirred up the potato soup left over from yesterday, picked up the purse again, carefully counted the coins inside, and finally put the purse down, stared at the fire and thought for a moment, picked up the jug, and added half a pot of water to the potato soup - probably, children, you can drink enough, right?

Soon, her entanglement was interrupted by the arrival of a well-dressed servant, who respectfully sent an invitation.

The hostess's eyes lit up, and she happily turned around in the kitchen.

After glancing at the time, knowing that her husband had not yet begun to fall asleep at this time, she ran upstairs with a stumbling stare and knocked on the door twice, then pushed the door open, and without waiting for the irascible painter to lose his temper, she preemptively said, "Vermeer! Guess who's giving us the post? ”

She raised the formal invitation in her hand and looked happy: "It's Sti! Mr. Sty's invitation! ”

The painter glanced at her with a complicated expression, but he also breathed a sigh of relief, "Is it night?" Then dress up and put on all the jewelry I gave you! ”

The hostess smiled undiminishedly and responded happily: "Okay, dear! ”

She circled out the door, humming softly in a ditty tune, and when she reached the corner downstairs, where the painter could not see, her feet froze, and the sound disappeared from her mouth, and her pretty face once again showed a little sadness.

Soon, she cheered up, went to the living room, and picked out a well-fitting dress, but it looked a little old, but she didn't care at all, took out another half-new men's dress, and ironed it seriously.

Soon, the painter and his wife, dressed properly, got into the rented carriage and instructed the eldest daughter, Eliza, to take care of her younger siblings, and the carriage soon began to move in the twilight.

(End of chapter)