At once I
saw my father. He was riding in, dressed in his black
clothes, very solemn and respectable, with his beard
flowing over his chest. At the same moment he saw me, and
seemed to start in his saddle and glance quickly at all
about--at my poor little house, the litter that lay about,
the squalor of the town-end we lived in, and the laborious
bent back of my man as he squattered about in the mud. He
checked his horse an instant, as though by an impulse; for
my father, though I honored him, was a weak man, in whom no
purpose was steadfast. I saw the wavering in his face and
the uncertainty of his big pale eyes; and then, half-
nodding to me as though in an embarrassment, he pushed on
and entered the town. I went down and told Kornel.

"'H'm!' He stood as though in thought, looking up to me
from the water. 'Your father, eh? Would you like him to
come and see you?'

"I nodded.

"He laughed and climbed up the bank to me. 'So would I,' he
said. 'I have a stiffness in my back that makes me inclined
for anything rather than this work. Even your father.'

"We walked up to the house together, and Kornel's brow was
creased with thought, while his lips smiled.

"'You see,' he said, 'we want nothing from him--nothing at
all, so we can't afford to be humble. Have we any money at
all?'

"'We have three shillings,' I answered, 'and I owe one
shilling for food.'

"'That's not enough,' he said, shaking his head. 'You say
he saw me working? We must have thirty shillings at least;
we must treat him well; I can't let him off now that he has
seen so much. We'll stuff him till he bulges like a rotten
cask, and wishes he could make bricks as I can. I wonder if
Pagan would pay me in advance for a thousand dozen. I'll go
and ask him.'

"He started for the door at once, but turned and came back
to me.

"'He said once he had nothing to give me,' he whispered to
me. Do you grudge me this, kleintje.'

"'Not I,' I answered. 'I only wish we could do more.'

"He kissed me and was off in a moment. Pagan made no
difficulty about the money. He looked at Kornel shrewdly
when my man made the request, and paid at once.

"'It suits me ye should be a wee thing in my debt,' he
said. 'But you're so damned proud, there's times I'm scared
o' ye. Sign yer name here.'

"'Now,' said Kornel, when he had put the money in my hand,
'get what you need for a dinner that will tickle the ou
pa's stomach, and a bottle of whiskey. There never was