The wig was in the middle again resting quietly. It had vanquished Juffrouw Laps.
I wonder what the reader’s idea is of the effect produced on the company by this terrible sentence, against which there could be no appeal. There was something pitiless in Pennewip’s manner, and in his contracted eyebrows there was no intimation of mercy.
Chapter X
The attentive reader who knows human nature will naturally wish to know why I closed the last chapter so tamely, and why that zoölogical problem which, only a short time before had caused such a violent explosion, was now allowed to rest in peace.
There are three reasons for this.
Firstly, the women had been so wrought up that they were now exhausted.
Secondly, Juffrouw Laps, the shrewd leader of the fight, looked over the battlefield and, without thinking of the famous battle between the Horatii and the Curiatii, saw with innate tactical talent the correctness of “divide and conquer.” With the forces Stotter, Mabbel, Krummel and Zipperman against the house of Pieterse—that was all right. But now that the house was supported by Pennewip’s powerful hand, it was prudent to withdraw from the battle. For who could guarantee her that she might depend upon her allies? What assurance had she that the midwife, or even Juffrouw Zipperman would not go over to the enemy?—if only out of deference to the versatile wig! No, no, no! She wouldn’t risk her rhetorical artillery in such a doubtful engagement! She was content to say to herself, “I will get even with you later.” Imagining her, with all her relations to society, multiplied by twenty or thirty millions, we would have read the next day in this or that official Laps organ something like this:
“Our relations with the Pietersian empire are most cordial. The recent friendly meeting between the two sovereigns was merely that they might have the mutual pleasure of seeing one another, and had no political significance whatever. It will be seen how unfounded were those rumors of ‘strained relations,’ which were said to have been brought about by a discussion of certain characteristics of our popular princess. The reader will recall that we never gave credence to those rumors, and reported them with great reserve.”
Thirdly. The third and chief cause of the armistice was—curiosity. Under the present changed circumstances whoever betrayed any anger would have to leave; and whoever left would not find out why Master Pennewip had come, or what new crime Walter had committed. Again we see the truth of the proposition, that everything has its good side.