He traversed the fore and inner galleries at a bound, and when he reached the back-room where the ladies of his family were still sitting at their needlework, he flew up to his wife, who, noticing at once his excited state, rose from her chair. He grasped both her wrists in his iron grasp, and, exerting all his strength, he forced her down on her knees before him.
All this had passed so quickly that, although the two girls had also sprung up, yet neither of them understood what was going on.
“There!” roared the infuriated husband, “there! that is your proper position! And now answer me. Where is the rest of the money?”
“What money?” asked his wife in alarm.
“The ten thousand guilders!” thundered Meidema.
“What ten thousand guilders?” asked his unhappy wife, still on her knees. “Meidema! let go my wrists, you are hurting me!”
“No, I shall not let you go until you have told me where you have hidden the money.”
“What money are you talking about?”
“The ten thousand guilders you had from the opium farmer!”
“Father,” said Gesina, “let mother go, and listen to me, I will tell you all about it.”