Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Stuck at home with nothing to do after the extensive furnishing on the mansion at the village of Bidnold is done, Merivel takes up painting. With his overactive imagination, he fancies himself a great artist. However, he learns soon enough that he can't paint. Since he is familiar with the human body from medical training, he thinks he would be more successful with a human subject as a model. He picks a good-looking barmaid, Meg Storey, with large attractive breasts. He convinces her, by promises and offers of money, to be his model. Soon, he is painting her, naked except for underpants, draped in a beguiling way with a shawl. Now he begins to be satisfied with his drawings, except that he becomes very aroused while painting the woman and is unable to focus. In between modeling times, she is completely...