“ ‘How can you ask such a question?’ cried I, vehemently.
“ ‘Well,’ replied van Gulpendam, ‘I have my reasons,—and they are very good reasons too—for doing so. You had an interview yesterday evening with my wife, had you not?’
“ ‘Yes, Resident,’ was my reply.
“ ‘And the conversation you then held with her opened up to you the prospect of a future career. I think I am right there?’ was his second question.
“I simply sat staring at the man in utter amazement. Never, never, could it have come into my head that he and his wife were of the same way of thinking in such a matter as that.”
“Why not, pray?” asked Verstork, very quietly.
“Why, my dear friend, I looked upon the Resident as worldly and frivolous indeed; but I thought he was an honourable man, and one who kept himself altogether clear of the intrigues in which his wife appears to dabble.”
Again the bitter smile curved Verstork’s lips; but in the deep shadow of the the Wariengien tree, van Nerekool failed to perceive it.
“Go on,” said Verstork, who, though deeply moved, spoke in so perfectly quiet and composed a tone of voice, that his friend did not notice his feelings.
“To his last question,” resumed van Nerekool, “I replied, ‘Yes, Resident, you are right. Mrs. van Gulpendam did make me certain proposals.’