6o
the Forest with Steven Wouters.' She looked in
surprise at the kind smile on his face and said :
' Thank you.5
There were crowds of customers that Saturday
evening, but punctually at nine o'clock he sent
Agnete to her chair to rest and stayed longer in the
shop himself. When he was able to begin his even-
ing's work on the books, Agnete was reading the
Bible. He felt in a more cheerful mood than he
had been in for a long time. He's only a child
still, he thought as he was spreading his accounts
out on the table. And he recalled the feeling of
the slender neck under his hand. When Frans
came to ask if he could go out now that Gerrit could
manage alone in the shop, he answered : * Have a
good walk, the air will be fresh by the Spaarne.'
His sister had stayed up later than was her custom ;
she laid the Bible on the side-table and stood up to
bid him good-night. He said : * I think Floris
ought to go to another school. He's good at his
books. I'll go and have a talk to the master at the
Jacobijnstraat School.*
* But that is a school for young gentlemen/ she
said.
6 And may not a Werendonk child go there ? *
He realised at once what he had said, but Agnete
was too tired, she merely answered that he probably
knew best, and left the room.
When he was alone, he thought, it's all because