ut fortunately
they were not thinking of Africa. For the present he was not afraid
of any competition from that quarter; but other children, nearer the
"grown-up" stage, might get the idea in their heads! And then, what
would he do to keep his mother from guessing when he made his trips
into the "interior" longer, and stayed out later than was allowed by
the regulations of the Pieterse household?

It was a difficult matter, but he would manage it.

All that might happen to him and Femke in Africa would be read
afterwards in pretty little books with colored pictures. He already
saw himself sitting on a throne, and Femke by his side. She was not
proud; she was willing for everybody to know--all those kneeling
before her--that she had been a poor wash-girl. She had become queen
because Walter had loved her; and now they needn't kneel any more.

On special occasions--well, of course, that was different; for
instance, when his mother and Stoffel came to visit him. They should
see how all the people honored him--and Femke whom they had treated so
badly. But once would be enough; then he would forgive them everything
and build them a big house with water-barrels and wash-tubs. For
Pennewip he would build a big schoolhouse, with desks and ink-bottles
and copy-books and wall maps of Europe and tables of the new weights
and measures. Then the old master could give instruction from early
in the morning till late at night--or even all night.

He was just puzzling over how he was going to reconcile Master
Pennewip and the dusky young African to one another when Leentje
opened the door.

Without noticing it he had got home and rung the
door-bell. Unsuspectingly he fell into an environment quite different
from that in which he had moved for the last half hour. He scarcely
understood what his mother meant when she asked him how the visit
turned out, and whether Juffrouw Laps was satisfied with his report
on the sermon.

Sermon? Laps? He was unprepared for such an examination. He stammered
out a sort of miscellaneous and irrelevant jumble of words, but
fortunately containing nothing about Africa.

It now developed that in the meantime there had been a sudden change
in certain details of religious belief.

"You see, mother?" said Stoffel. "Just as I've always said, it
would take a lawyer to explain anything to suit her. She always
knows better----"

"That's so," answered the mother. "She's cracked or crazy. Now,
just tell me