rgo
understand now/ he said, 6 what the father in the
parable of the Prodigal Son must have suffered.'
He said he would like Frans to take over more of
his work in the shop so as to leave him freer to go
out when it was necessary. The Saturday round
of the creditors, too, he would hand over to
him because he himself had a more arduous task
now.
He sat up later because the accounts had got into
a muddle, and because his thoughts were elsewhere
he did the work more slowly. But he was up again
early in the morning, he swallowed a hasty mouthful
and went out, telling them not to wait for him. For
weeks on end he could be seen going out in fair
weather or in rain, and the Wouterses, who were in
his confidence, always knew where he had gone.
Some people said that it was beginning to affect his
mind—how could he expect to find anyone between
Velsen and Hillegom with nothing definite to go
on, and he a heavy paan who suffered from his legs.
They did what they could to help him. Those who
had relatives outside the town wrote to ask whether
by chance a young man had been noticed tramping
with two companions, if so, to let them know at
once. The young people in the street, too, did their
best; they went out on Sundays in twos and threes
into the districts of the polders as far as the dunes.
And no day passed but Werendonk had a visit from
someone to tell him what he had heard. And he