d to having so much money. All
the neighbors know his coat and breeches; and such a man hasn't any
trunk where he can hide his things. He doesn't know how to manage with
drafts and notes; and he don't know enough to get away to a foreign
country. As for friends to help him get rid of the stolen things,
he hasn't any. I tell you, Juffrouw Pieterse, a murder or a robbery,
when they don't catch the murderer right away--then some respectable
person has done it, who has more clothes and boxes and presses and
linen--and he has friends among bankers. A common fellow would stick
a hundred thousand florins in the bread-box, and the children would
find it when they went to slip a slice of bread and butter. What do
you say, Trudie?"

Trudie was not versed in criminal statistics and had never reflected
on the matter. At least Walter heard no answer. Curiosity compelled
him to draw on his trousers.

"But," he heard his mother saying again, "what has happened to you?"

"What has happened? I am beside myself. Don't you see how I'm
trembling? The city is full of murderers!"

"My goodness! How can I help it?"

"You can't. But I am beside myself, and I want to ask your advice. Do
they all go to bed so early?--Stoffel--and Laurens--all of them? Look,
how I'm shaking. Do you suppose I dare go back to my room?"

"Why not? Do you think you're going to be murdered?"

"Yes. I do think it! The murderers of that old woman and of the
servant-girl are still on the war-path. Yesterday at the illumination
how many watches did they steal? And the police--what do they
do? Nothing, nothing! Yes, they watch you to see if you beat a rug
in the morning after ten o'clock. That's what the police do. They
don't bother murderers."

"What do you know about the murderers? It's your duty to report them
if you know them."

Walter put on his vest and wrapped his muffler around his neck.

"What I know about them! They are besieging me in my own house. Isn't
that pretty rough? I went out at noon to see the boat race on the
Amstel; but there was nothing to see, because there was no wind. And
such a crowd! All the kings were there, and the visiting princes
and princesses, you know; and everybody stared at the carriages,
and I did too. Not that I care anything about a king. Goodness,
no! For he is only a worm in God's hand, and when the Master doesn't
aid him--all is vanity, vanity. Dust and ashes--that's all. But I
looked at the carriages, you know, and a