waggled a finger at him, grinning more broadly now. You’ll never be
able to glamorize the little darlings enough to satisfy doting papa.”
But. -The last time a commission came in from Chalkin, said Chomas,
joining in the conversation, Macartor was there for nine months before
his work was deemed “satisfactory”.
Chomas jabbed his finger at the clause that began on the completion of
satisfactory work’. He came back a ghost of himself and poorer than
he’d started out.
Macartor?” lantine knew of the painter. a capable man with a fine eye
for detail, now doing murals for the new Hall at Nerat Hold.
He tried to think of a reason why Macartor had not been able to deal
well with Chalkin. Great man for detail, but not for portraiture,’ he
said.
Ussie’s eyebrows rose high in his long face and his grey eyes danced
with mischief.
So, take the commission and learn for yourself. I mean, some of us
need some extra marks before Turn’s End, but not so badly as we’d go to
Bitra Hold to earn em. You know the reputation there for gambling?
They’d sooner stop breathing than stop gambling.
Oh, it can’t be half as bad as they say it is,’ Iantine replied.
The sixteen marks, plus keep and travel expenses, is scale.
Ussie ticked the points off on fingers. Travel? Well, you’d have to
pay your own way there . – But he specifies travel – – Iantine
protested, tapping that phrase impatiently.
Hmmm, but you have to pay out for the travel there and account for
every quarter mark you spent. Take you a few days to sort out right
there. Chalkin’s so mingy no decent cook stays with him, ditto for
housekeeper, steward and any other staff, so you may end up having to
cook your own meals if he doesn’t charge you for the fuel to cook with.
The Hold’s not got central heating, and you’d want a room fire this time
of the year in that region. Oh, and bring your own bed-furs, he doesn’t
supply them to casual workers Casual? A portraitist from Hall Domaize
is not classified as a casual worker,’ Iantine said indignantly.
At Bitra, my friend, everyone’s casual,’ Chomas put in.
Chalkin’s never issued a fair service contract in his life. And read
EVERY SINGLE WORD on the page if you are foolish enough to take the
commission. Which, if you had the sense of little green apples, you
won’t.” Chomas gave a final decisive nod of his head and continued on
his way to his own work station, where he was doing fine marquetry on a
desk.
However, lantine had a particular need for the marks the commission
would bring him. With his professional diploma all but in his hand, he
wanted to start repaying what he owed his parents. His father wanted to
avail himself of lantine’s land allotment to extend his pasturage, but
he didn’t have the marks to pay the Council transfer fees: never a huge
amount, but sufficient so that Ian tine’s large family would have to cut
back on what few luxuries they had to save the sum. it was therefore a
matter of self-esteem and pride for lantine to earn the fee.
His parents had given him a good start, more than he deserved
considering how seldom he had been at the hold since his twelfth
birthday. His mother had wished him to be a teacher, as she had been
before her marriage. She had taught all the basics to him, his nine
siblings and the children in the other nearby Benden mountain sheep and
farm holds. And because he had shown not only a keen interest in
learning but also discernible skill in sketching – filling every inch of
a precious drawing book with studies of every aspect of life on the
hillside hold – it had been decided to send him to the College. His
help would be missed, but his father had reluctantly agreed that the lad
showed more aptitude with pen and pencil than shepherd crook. His next
youngest brother, who had the temperament for the work, had been
ecstatic to be promoted to Iantine’s tasks.