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following him, so frequently was he accosted by him.
They went to the beer-house again. He disliked
the things Blusser said, his cursing and swearing, his
low talk, and yet, without noticing it, he was using
the same expressions himself. He thought his
mockery of religion and good conduct were wicked,
he knew he would lead him into bad ways again,
and yet he couldn't resist making another appoint-
ment with him. Then at work in the office he was
always wondering whether there was anything to
look forward to in the evening, and before it was time
to leave he would be gone. He banged the door
after him, saying to himself: e I don't care what
happens.5 He thought of the lies he had told that
day, he counted them up, and he felt himself grow
hot with shame and anger, but he repeated : c I
don't care.'
Mr. Wessels asked Werendonk to come and see
him to talk over the change in the boy, and at parting
he advised him to see if he could discover the bad
influence. And Werendonk sat in the evenings with
his head in his hands. He didn't believe what his
brother Diderik had said about the godlessness of
the Kroons, any more than he believed what Jansje
had told him about the bad youth Floris was some-
times seen with. He thought and thought and he
encountered a wall in his mind beyond which he
could not penetrate. The fellow was a good-for-
nothing, and all the care he had taken to make a