Gentleness of spirit. Camilla let these words wash over her.
“You know,” Mrs. Singh said, “he took over here first when he was fifteen. Harvil…well, for historical reasons, the china-works here has offered employment to every sort of person, regardless of race. Sailors who were left in port, Chinamen who hoped to do business but fell on hard times… Harvil gave them all a chance.”
“That sounds very hospitable.”
Mrs. Singh’s lip curled up. “It does, doesn’t it? In reality, when Adrian arrived, the community was divided five ways. Nobody took him seriously. He was a fifteen-year-old boy and his family owned the place. It should have been a disaster. But he didn’t issue orders. He didn’t take charge. He didn’t tell us all what to do. He just…listened, and then somehow…?” She shrugged. “I can’t quite explain it myself. There are some people who are popular because they tell you you’re allowed to be the worst version of yourself. And then there’s Adrian.”
“He makes you want to be your best.”
“Yes.” Mrs. Singh shrugged. “And when you aren’t, he makes you want to be better without telling you how you’ve failed. As I said. We’re very protective of him.”
* * *
By the time Adrian arrived, the meeting was in full swing—which was to say, the artists were all arguing. As usual.
Tea stood on a sideboard; he made himself a cup and listened.
“I know you are capable of delicacy of principle,” Mrs. Song was saying, “but here—look at this abysmal glut of color! No spareness of design. No sense of balance! There must be room to breathe in art. I would honestly rather gouge my own eyes out with a pitchfork than look at what you’ve done!”
“Well,” Mr. Alabi shot back. “We can’t all design perfectly white plates with dots on them, can we?”
“It is a bear cub, not a dot!”
Beside them, Mr. Namdak chuckled. The two artists froze as one, turned to him, and frowned.
“What are you laughing about?”
“Yes, really,” Mrs. Song put in, one hand drifting to her hip, “what are those…things you’ve rendered? Are they stars? Are they flowers? Are they fish? Are they cat paws?”
“Actually, they’re stylized representations of—”
“Stylized?” Mrs. Song made a face. “You call that style?”
When Adrian had been fifteen and newly alone in England, he had tried to do his part by taking over his father’s work at Harvil Industries.
“You have a good eye,” his father had said. “And we have excellent artists. Just pick the design that is most eye-catching.”
He had walked into a room of adults arguing, yelling at each other about whose work was better. Back then, the artist picked to design that year’s china would receive a bonus; the others would stew and vow vengeance for the next season.
Adrian really hadn’t intended to change everything. It had just happened. By the time the war was over, the damage had been done. Which was to say, Harvil Industries had tripled its yearly profits, the system of choosing one artist’s designs had been tossed like so much rubbish, and for some inexplicable reason, the men and women he worked with treated Adrian like an equal, even though he couldn’t even draw.
“Thank God you’re here,” Mr. Namdak said, rolling his eyes. “We’ve been at this for weeks. We’re desperate for you.”
“One of these days, you will all realize I don’t do anything at all, and you’ll be rid of me entirely.”
“You do own the company,” Mr. Alabi muttered.
“Well, my family does, at any rate.” They only listened to him because they had to. “If it weren’t for that, you’d not rely on me for anything.”
Mr. Alabi rolled his eyes. “I know what I am good at. I have a better eye for color than any man on this planet.”
“More humility, too.” Mrs. Song snickered into a fist.
“I can’t do what you do.”
“True,” Mrs. Song said. “Only you can change Mr. Alabi’s designs and make him think it’s his idea.”
“How many times must I tell you? You can’t change the design! It’s telling a story. Adrian, tell her—”
“A story nobody will understand.” That was Mr. Namdak.
“All the better! It’s about us—all of us here in Harvil, wanderers dispersed far from homes that no longer exist, coming together, forming new friendships.”
“It’s messy.” Mrs. Song shook her head.
“I’m trying to compliment you, you foo—” He stopped, glanced at Adrian, and cleared his throat. “You fine woman.”
“So what is Mrs. Song in your story?” Mr. Namdak asked. “Is she the angry zig-zaggy pattern?”
“Boo. Don’t be rude, not unless you want to be the squiggly green lines.”
Adrian stood. “Well, that’s the problem. If the design is about coming together, then really, Mr. Alabi, you shouldn’t be speaking for everyone.”
“Why not? I’m so good at it.”
Adrian ignored this posturing. “What if we used just a ribbon of the design, superimposed over the bear cub?”
His artists exchanged dubious looks.
“A larger version of the bear cub.”
“Like…” Mrs. Song sketched her bear cub swiftly in pencil; Mr. Alabi followed with a few strokes of water color.
“No.” Everyone spoke at once, almost in horror, at the result.
“What about…”
It went on for another hour, then two. Adrian was almost ready to end the session in disgust, when his exhausted brain offered up one last idea. “The silhouette of the cub,” he said. “But…more stylized. And fill it with Alabi’s design.”
It took another five minutes to sketch this out. Adrian stood, stretching.
The final result was… No. Not quite right. Maybe it was because a bear’s silhouette was too bulky, but it lacked a certain something. He wasn’t sure what.
“Like that,” Adrian said, “but maybe with more sense of movement. Maybe if it’s hunting?”
“Do bears hunt?” asked Mrs. Song.
“Well, I’m sure they must. How else do they eat?”
Silence reigned for a handful of seconds. Then Mr. Namdak shrugged. “We’re artists, not…animal behavior experts. I don’t even go outside unless I have no choice in the matter. How should I know?”
Adrian sighed. “Let’s pretend bears hunt. It’s probably true. Mr. Namdak, maybe it’s trying to catch your dream-star-fish thing?”
He could feel the excitement growing in the room as they worked, sketching over each other.
“That’s it.” Mr. Namdak smiled, stepping back. “That’s it. We’ve done it.”
There were handshakes all around. Adrian stood back and looked, and thought, and…
“No,” he said, to everyone’s groans. “We haven’t. Not quite. First, we’ve promised an eight plate series. What we have here is one plate at best. And it’s not even fully fleshed out.”
“An utter tyrant,” Mrs. Song said. “We are employed by a tyrant. And here it is, ten at night.”
“Second,” Adrian said, “I don’t love the sketch of the bear cub. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but I want more of a sense of play here. This is a cub, not a full-grown animal.”
“Hmm.”
“And third, we have this cub catching the—dream-star, whatever it is—on the first plate. That can’t be right. It’s an eight plate series; it ought to tell a full story. You don’t catch your dreams on the first try, after all.”
“Lots of people do.” Mrs. Song rubbed her eyes. “But I suppose I see your point.”
“Still, we have a direction.” Adrian smiled. “We have something that is almost a preliminary design. And this is going to be amazing once we’ve finished. Enough for the night.”
“We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Adrian just stared at Mr. Namdak and shook his head. “You literally could have done exactly that. You’re the ones drawing.”
&nb
sp; “Oh, stop being modest and go home,” Mr. Namdak said. “Don’t you have something about an annulment to think about, too?”
All thought of bears and designs dropped from Adrian’s head. Home. God, home. He had a thousand things to do. The designs needed more work tomorrow, and he still had his uncle to please and an annulment to plan.
Well.
He sighed. Good thing there was the rest of the night.
* * *
Adrian had expected to find his cottage dark when he returned, and from the outside, it appeared that way. But as he was hanging up his hat and coat, he noticed a dim glow from the study.