4i
scarcely answered when a customer addressed him.
As soon as the shop was at last shut, even though
it was after half-past ten, he would seize his cap and
go out. Once his brother had noticed it and said :
' Why don't you stay at home ? It's much too late
to go out.' And Frans had answered : c I know,
but I'm going all the same.5 Gerbrand didn't
notice the tone of voice or grasp the significance of
this answer. But the other brother didn't offer
such mild resistance as the youngest. He gave no
answers, but Gerbrand, absorbed in his work,
couldn't see the expression on his face, and when,
arriving home after midnight, he had to give an
account of himself, he said : c I'll do as I please,9
and banged the door after him. He's old enough
to look after himself, thought Gerbrand, but he didn't
realise that his brother had ceased to obey him.
It came as a surprise to him when he discovered
it. It was a Sunday evening in June, the lamp was
not yet lighted, and he sat at his accounts, for he
was forced by necessity to break the law of the
Sabbath rest. Diderik, who had been a long time
preparing to go out, came quietly into the room,
drew a chair up to the table and sat down. Ger-
brand looked at him in amazement. * It's time
we had a talk,' he said. c I'm twenty-seven and I
refuse to be treated as a child any longer. You're
always too busy to think of anything else, but you
might as well know that we've made up our minds