49
lighted in the butcher's shop. He dared not stay
away any longer; he laid it carefully down under
the coverlets, but he had scarcely closed the door
behind him when its voice was raised again, pitiful
and weak now. The crying went on, it could be
heard in the other shops. And, as the maid had
told them before supper that Mrs. Berkenrode had
decided to stay in bed, Frans ate his meal hurriedly
and went upstairs again, and once more peace was
restored. He walked up and down while the child
looked at the candle, or at his shadow on the wall,
until the Damiaatjes began to chime. He thought
it would begin to cry now, for it always did at that
sound, but he saw a smile on its face, and that made
him so happy that he pressed it close in his arms.
And at each chime he said e Ding-dong ' ; he loved
the sound so much himself, and he would never be
able to go to the Market Square at nine o'clock
any more. But if the little creature could smile
at it, it was good to listen to it here too. Then
the maid came to tell him he was wanted in the
shop.
All through the winter the child was troublesome,
and its screams were continually heard, and many
a time during the day, and at night too, Frans
would go and take his sister's place, for she was
ailing and suffered from headaches, her troubles
were too much for her. Nothing she did for the child
was of any avail, but when it heard the stairs creaking