against your child ; from now on I am his father.
It's only right I should be, for I, too, my conscience
tells me, have guilt to expiate because I did not
stand by him to the last. You will have to leave
this house, but you'll find all you need with us,
meagre though it may be.'
She was his stepsister, and there was twelve years
difference in their ages, and he had always had
authority over the younger ones. She said, * You
will be rewarded for taking care of the child.'
Then he went to the Court to make enquiries.
And he wrote to his own sister in Schoonhoven,
asking her to come with her husband in order that
a conference might be held and an important
decision made. She was older than he was, married
to a baker, and was weak and delicate. When they
arrived, he arranged for them all to meet one even-
ing in the parlour; he closed the shop and gave
each one a place at the table ; he turned up the
wick of the lamp. And when all were seated he
spoke to them : ' I will tell you briefly how matters
stand, without digressing or making reproaches
against anyone. I can't tell you what sin is, but
we all know, if we look into our hearts, that we are
corrupt. Therefore let us throw no stones, but
simply do what God expects of us. This is the
position : Our brother-in-law has robbed his neigh-
bours, plundered widows and orphans. His child
ought not to suffer for his transgression, as it is