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dusk she said : c Anything, that is what I have been
saying in my heart all the time, anything that will
bring salvation to you. I will do anything, more
than that I cannot say.'
They were to go, they decided, secretly. Once
she said it would be terrible for her parents if she
went like that, but after that she didn't mention it
again. He was to make enquiries about when a boat
would be sailing and how much it would cost. He
laughed a lot, and often as they walked he said that
the air under the trees did him good.
And once she asked him if he had thought about
how they were to get the money to go. Perhaps it
would be better if they spoke about it straight-for-
wardly, she with her parents, he with his uncle, and
asked him to lend them the money. Then they would
not need to go secretly as though they had something
to be ashamed of. She didn't know his uncle, he
replied, he had got it into his head that he was his
protector for the whole of his life ; only yesterday
he had said that the last debt was paid off, and
that he had nothing to worry about now except to
make the shop prosperous for Floris. He would
never allow him to go to another country. But go
away he must, he was certainly not going to stay
in that house now.
On the Queen's birthday Wijntje was allowed to
go out earlier, and because it was too crowded in
the town they walked longer in the Forest. They