I looked at him more closely. He was really a fine-looking
man, remarkably well-dressed in black, with a resolute somewhat
sunburnt face, in which I at once detected a few slight marks of
small-pox.

"'Excuse me,' I stammered out in much embarrassment; 'I have the
honour, Mr. Hans Lutz--'

"But Kate did not let me finish my speech; one quick glance at the
picture, which stood on an easel in the middle of the studio, had sent
all the blood back to her face. 'That is scandalous,' said she, going
straight up to Van Kuylen, who with his straw-coloured face and nankeen
attire cut a most unfortunate figure on this occasion. '_That_, then,
is your gratitude to me for making an exception in your case, and
consenting to sit for my portrait to you; and because I would consent
to nothing else, you would degrade me in this way before the whole
world, and represent me as a bad bold girl who lets herself be seen for
money, and has no objection to her shame being openly exhibited!
Declare now once for all before these two witnesses, whether you have
ever seen me as I am painted there, whether I was ever alone with you,
whether I did not show you the door when you came to me at my lodgings
and begged and entreated me to be your wife.'

"Her eyes flashed, and now that she was silent, her nostrils quivered,
and I noticed that she pressed her clenched fist closely to her side,
as though she feared she might be tempted to commit an assault upon the
little yellow man.

"I for my part, marvelled that he took it all so calmly.

"'I find out now,' he said at length with the utmost phlegm, and laying
down his pipe, 'who it is I have before me. You are no doubt the
engineering gentleman of whom the young lady has already told us. I
congratulate you on your return, which will probably set all things to
rights. If they went wrong it was your own fault. A person who allows
so long a time to pass without being heard of, cannot be surprised at
others coming forward in his absence. For the rest, I am prepared to
give the lady whatever spoken or written assurance she may require. The
best explanation, perhaps, will be found in _this_!

"So saying he went to a corner of the room, where all sorts of sketches
and unfinished pictures were heaped up together, and after a short
search, produced a study painted on paper, a female figure in the
precise position of Bathsheba, and although the face was merely an
outline, one saw at a glance that a quite