The courting had been brief, the marriage swift, Donna had cried but left with one of the bridesmaids in her carriage and so in the end all were content.
About a month after the wedding, Lord Grey and Kitty were on the edge of his uncle's grounds in a kind of alcove cut out of the forest by planting a hedge in a semi-circle to the river's edge such that you had to reach it by boat.
His uncle's grand house on top of the hill rose above them on the other side of the river. Lord Grey was leaning back against a tree in the middle of the alcove while Kitty slowly went up and down on his lap disguised by her dress being spread out around her.
"Mmm this is a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon," said Lord Grey.
"Yes," Kitty replied. "By the way now I think of it do you happen to have the contact for that painter Donna used in her house?"
"The French chap?"
"Yes, the one who didn't mind the subject matter Donna wanted."
"Yes, we used him to paint some illustrations at the school. I'll have the contact in my study. Why so?"
"I was thinking of learning to paint, for when you are off on business," she said, bouncing on his lap more vigorously.
"Oomph, that sounds like a grand idea. Did you have anything in mind to paint: horses, flowers?"
"Flowers, of a kind.. Oh... Oh..."
***
Their house was adjacent to the uncle's but a mile or so away on the other side of the river and it was attached to the maid school by a raised walkway to what they called the viewing room above the main training hall so potential customers could watch the proceedings from above in private.
Kitty, after some months of lessons with the French painter set herself to go to the viewing room to practise sketching the proceedings to learn the craft of how to capture the shapes of bodies in various poses. Eventually when she felt she'd managed to capture what she wanted in a set of good sketches, she retreated to an upper room of the house which she'd taken as a studio and started adding paint to the sketches.
Some months passed with the studio locked from Lord Grey's curiosity until she felt she had reached a worthwhile standard. Then one afternoon when she felt she'd attained her goal she called him to come look.
"Your flowers?" he asked as they climbed the stairs to her studio.
"Yes, something like that" she replied.
After she unlocked the door Lord Grey entered to see three large canvasses in a semi-circle by the large open window and he went to look. The first was a picture of Donna standing on her balcony overlooking the park while someone with red-blonde hair was seated below her, hidden by the balcony, with her head between Donna's legs.