“You!” roared her father without releasing his wife whom he still kept kneeling before him.
“I took the parcel from Lim Yang Bing,” continued the young girl. “It was I who opened it, and we all admired the samples of silk. At that time, I swear to you, father, there were no notes in it. I swear it by all that I hold dear! When mother refused to listen to his conditions, he put the parcel back into his pocket. Later on, mother consented to speak to you about Lim Ho and to consult you about the silk, then, the babah flung the parcel on the table and hurried away.”
“But the ten thousand guilders!” cried Meidema impatiently.
“Let me finish what I have to say, father,” continued the young girl. “As soon as he was gone I again took up the samples. And now I come to think of it, they were not the same we had admired before. At the time, however, I did not notice the change. I took one of the samples and spread it on my knee to bring out the effect of the colours, and then—the notes fell out of the packet to the floor.”
“Fifteen thousand guilders!” said the father who had been listening with impatience but had not lost a word.
“No, father, not fifteen thousand; there were ten five hundred guilder notes. There were no more than that,” replied the girl in a firm and steady voice.
“Is that the truth?” asked her father as he fixed his eye on his wife and children.
But there was so much honesty and innocence in the eyes of his twins; and his wife looked up at him so firmly and trustfully, that further doubt was impossible, while all three as with one mouth and in one breath said:
“That is the truth.”
Then the wretched man raised his wife from the floor where she was still on her knees before him. He clasped her in his arms and, as he pressed her to his heart, he cried in a lamentable voice: