Adelia looked into the still water of the lily pond. She slowly raised her brush to the canvas and added a tinge of violet blue. Biting her lip slightly, she dabbed the pigment gently onto the landscape.

As she did, one of her dark curls fell across her face. She pushed it away quickly. Her hair always insisted on escaping immodestly.

‘Adelia, Darling?’ her father’s voice called across the garden.

She turned and looked up from her wide brim of her hat. ‘You startled me.’ She lowered her hand, grateful she had not been working on a more minute detail.

He smiled dotingly. ‘Painting again, are you?’

She placed her...