Chapter 1<br > Leisa Miquet Van Gulik， youngest in a brood of five，<br >grew up at Holland Haus， her father s country estate on the<br >Jersey side of the Hudson River， in the cheerfully mistaken<br >belief that she was the odd duckling in a family of swans.<br > Her three older sisters Emily， Lizbet， and Marie， had<br >inherited the fair porcelain skin and fragile small-boned<br >prettiness of their Huguenot mother， Catherine Miquet.<br >They had little round blue eyes under slim arched brows，<br >daintily pursed-up lips， and delicate turned-up noses. Their<br >thick glossy ringlets clustered~ in bunches over shell-like<br >ears. Even their brother Arend !ooked more like them than<br >the youngest sister. ~<br > Leisa s eyes changed according~o the season or her mood<br > or the color of the dress she wore--they were blue， they<br > were green， they were navy. Her nose was long with wide-<br > flared nostrils and her mouth was laughing and full-lipped.<br > Her hair was the same flaxen gold as her sisters ， but it<br > defied all attempts to make it fashionably curly. No matter<br > how many nights Catherine s maid Molly tied it up tightly<br > in papers or how many days she labored over it with a hot<br > cuding iron， the limp sausage curls flatted out within<br > minutes and Leisa s hair reverted to its normal state，<br > tumbling straight to her shoulders.<br > It was thick fine hair， Joris Van Gulik pointed out to his<br > wife during one of her lamentations after they had just spied<br > their youngest daughter running to the stables， shoes in<br > hand， her hair in its usual tangle. "One day some man will<br > well like to see its softness spread out on a pillow，" he<br > reminded Catherine， his own blue eyes twinkling.<br ><br >