frost,5 he said, c the trees were still white, but it
was beginning to thaw. You heard, didn't you?
The bells were ringing for half an hour, and it was
I who rang them. It's my duty to warn people,
with this foot of mine that I broke through its being
so slippery.*
It was a red-letter day in the house ; the customers
heard of it, and the neighbours were talking about
how Frans had rung the Damiaatjes because of the
slippery streets. He bustled about, rubbing his
hands, and his eyes shone. At dinner his brother
asked him if he had arranged it with old Simon,
and what the verger had said. And Jansje, who
was standing near, began to talk of old Simon's
infirmities ; his arms were so painful that he had
to put his elbows into the loops of the ropes when
he was ringing the bells. That day there was a lot
more talk than usual; Floris alone did not open
his lips. But the day after it was as quiet as ever
again in the house.
Floris attracted no attention. After breakfast he
would ask his Uncle Gerbrand what there was for him
to do, a message in the town or a job in the shed.
Then he would go off quietly, and no one ever saw
when he returned. If he was sitting in his bedroom
no sound betrayed it* It was only in the evenings
that he would speak, when Werendonk asked him
about the text the domine had been expounding to
him. This domine held views that Werendonk