"Oh, not in the least!"

"You are quite sure my presence will not make you nervous, then?"

Rembrandt said something to the effect that he rather liked to have some
one watch him when he worked; it depended, of course, on who it was--and
asked the sitter to elevate his chin a little and not look so cross.

Next day Saskia came again to watch the transfer of the good uncle's
features to canvas.

The young artist was first among the portrait-painters of Amsterdam, and
had a long waiting-list on his calendar, but we find he managed to paint
a portrait of Saskia about that time. We have the picture now and we also
have four or five other pictures of her that Rembrandt produced that
year. He painted her as a queen, as a court lady and as a flower-girl.
The features may be disguised a little, but it is the same fine, bright,
charming, petite young woman.

Before six months had passed he painted several more portraits of Saskia;
and in one of these she has a sprig of rosemary--the emblem of
betrothal--held against her heart.

And then we find an entry at the Register's to the effect that they were
married on June Twenty-fourth, Sixteen Hundred Thirty-four.

Rembrandt's was a masterly nature: strong, original and unyielding. But
the young woman had no wish that was not his, and her one desire was to
make her lover happy. She was not a great woman, but she was good, which