"Come, Van Lowe ... keep very quiet now ... and rest ... rest...."
The sick man sank away, sank away in the downy abyss....
Gerrit made progress every day. He was now so much better that he had walked across the room, on Constance' arm, and just seen his two boys, only for a moment, because he longed for them so:
"The others too," he said.
The next day they brought Marietje and Gerdy and Constant to him; the day after that, the four others.... He had now seen them all:
"But for such a short time!" he said.
He recovered slowly. He had seen Van der Welcke and Addie; and, one pale, wintry, sunny day, he had been out for a little while, but the outside world made him giddy. Still he couldn't deny it: he was getting better. He saw his mother; and, when she saw him, she forgot that he had been ill:
"Where have you been, Gerrit?..."
"Laid up, Mamma."
"Laid up?..." The old woman nodded wisely. "You haven't been ill, have you?"