You told ... Adriaan...?"

Van der Welcke repeated it again, smiling a little at his father's
astonishment.

The old man understood that he had heard quite clearly. But he was so
much shocked that he could not speak.

And it was only next day that he asked:

"How were you able to tell Adriaan that?"

"Just plainly and simply," said Van der Welcke.

"Just plainly and simply?" the old man echoed.

And not until that evening did he find more words; then he said:

"No, I can't understand it. I can't understand you, Henri. I feel that
there is a very, very deep gulf between us. I feel that there is neither
love nor fear of God in you, that everything in your life, in your
relations with your wife, with your child, lacks a religious tendency.
It makes me very sad. I could never have pictured things like that. I at
least thought that you would have asked God's forgiveness daily for the
sin you once committed, the sin against yourself, your parents, that
woman, her husband, against the world, against God. I never imagined
you, Henri, so obdurate, so entirely without repentance, regretting
merely your own ruined life and shattered career. I can only pray for
you and I will pray for you, every day. Still, I can understand want of
faith. But what I can't understand is that you should--plainly and
simply--corrupt the soul of your son, a child of fourteen, by telling
him of your sin--plainly and simply--so that he might no longer suffer:
those were your words, were they not? Now, when I repeat those words to
myself and repeat them again and think over them and reflect upon them,
I fail to understand them. I do not understand them. I feel that you
must be entirely lacking in moral sense, in any idea of duty towards
your child, in any fear of God, to be able to act like that, to be able
to speak like that to your son, just to spare him suffering--plainly and
simply--and I ask myself, 'Am I dreaming? Where am I? Whom am I speaking
to? Is the man opposite me my son, my child, brought up by myself, and
is what he is telling me the truth or an illusion?' And, if that
illusion is the truth, Henri, if you are so entirely lost to every sense
of moral and parental duty, then I am very, very sorry to hear it and I
sit staring into a horrible abyss; and I confess that I do not
understand you and that I understand nothing of the world, the times and
the people of to-day...."

The old man had spoken slowly, measuring every word.

"Fat