CHAPTER TWO
THE   BEHAVIOUR   OF   HIS   BROTHER-IN-LAW MIGHT
have aroused his distrust sooner, if Werendonk had
not been conscious of the fact that he was suspicious
by nature, and therefore always tried to suppress
his dark doubts. There had already been rumours
about Berkenrode, talk of crooked dealings, but he
had attributed them to envy and slander, for dis-
honesty about money was so remote from himself
that it was the last thing he would suspect in anyone
else. But before the year came to an end he began
to feel uneasy.
Shortly after his marriage Berkenrode had asked
him for the loan of a sum of money, promising to
return it on a specified day in December, and
Werendonk had had to insist on this condition,
since only a part of the sum belonged to himself,
the other part he held in trust for his two brothers
and his eldest sister. It was an amount that a
business house as well known as Berkenrode's could
easily guarantee. When, on the appointed day,
Werendonk called and asked for the money, it was
perfectly clear to him that his brother-in-law was