The doctor looked at him anxiously. He was afraid that he saw symptoms of the alleged mental disorder; but Walter's eye was calm and gave no ground for fear.
"Out with it, my boy! What have you on your heart?"
"From early this morning--from seven o'clock on."
"From seven o'clock on," the doctor repeated.
"Certainly, the young gentleman ate breakfast at our house. To be sure, he ate breakfast with us. Kaatje, you can ride in the carriage with us."
As Holsma helped Walter in he gave the coachman directions to stop at Juffrouw Pieterse's, where "the girl" was "to leave a message." When he took a seat by his protÈgÈ, Walter pressed his hand and exclaimed: "Oh, what a good fortune it is that I found you!"
"Do you think so? It was only a--mere accident. Mrs. Claus is a----"
"Yes, and she's a good woman," said Holsma. "She is a cousin of ours, and I came to visit her. I do that every week, not as a physician, but as a kinsman. You can go to see her as much as you like: nothing will hurt you there."
"M'neer!" exclaimed Walter suddenly--and he caught his breath--"I think so much of Femke!"
The doctor was diagnosing Walter's case; but he preferred to do it quietly. While speaking of indifferent things, he noted that Kaatje had been mistaken; that Walter was both excited and exhausted, but that his mind was unaffected. On the contrary, his mind was growing. His soul was expanding.
When Kaatje left the carriage, Walter felt that the time had come to give and receive explanations. Holsma was of a contrary opinion. He was friendly enough, but showed no inclination for heart-to-heart confidences. Walter's confusing story was promptly interrupted.
"I've heard that you're going to enter the world of business."
"Well, that isn't bad, if you get into the right hands. You must work, though; and that's good for boys like you."
Fearing that Walter might imagine he was something more than the average boy, Holsma continued immediately:
"It's a good thing for everybody, especially young people. They're all alike; and all need to work. All boys must work; and girls, too. Everybody must work."
Walter did not understand that the doctor was giving him a dose of medicine; but he saw that the time for explanations had not yet arrived. Still he would have felt better if he could have unburdened his mind of at least a part of those persistent memories of last night. His instinct of chivalry would have prevented him from mentioning the details of the Laps affair, which, after all, had only been an ineffective attack.