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the early summer, when people felt heavy and not a
sound was to be heard in the whole street. His
brother had gone out with the assistant to see what
the barge had brought in ; there was no one at home
but his nephew, who was sitting up in his room at
his studies.
On the following days, too, Frans often noticed
how quiet it was ; the warm weather had begun
early, the sun was bright in the sky all day long, and
in the late afternoon it shone through the top panes
of the shop-window. Floris, who didn't go into
town now because he had to work hard for his
examination, sat up in his room, and nothing was
heard of him.
In July he had to go up to Amsterdam, and when
he came back in the evening he said that he had
failed in his examination.
The following day, when Werendonk had to go
out to make his payments, Frans was called out of
the shop. His brother stood there, pale, as though
something serious had occurred. But he spoke
calmly, * Frans/ lie said, c I don't make mistakes
about money. I know exactly what I put in my
pocket-book and, besides, look, I had jotted down
the numbers of the notes/ He had laid his pocket-
book down on the table while he went upstairs to
put on his coat, and when he came back he noticed
that it had been moved. The sixty-guilder note
had gone. Gerbrand had looked in the money-box