darling, and only a short time before this he had sacrificed the few jewels of his wife for the purpose of coming to the rescue of someone who no doubt was in better circumstances than himself.
But all this was already again far behind them when they arrived at Lebak! With cheerful peace of mind they had taken possession of the house: “where at last surely they hoped to stay for some time.” With a curious delight they had ordered in Batavia the furniture that was to make everything so comfortable and snug. They showed each other the places where they would breakfast, where little Max would play, where they would have their bookcase, where in the evening he would read to her what he had written during the day, for he was for ever unfolding his ideas on paper . . . and: “some day it would be printed,” thought Tine, “and these people would see who her Max was!” But never yet had he sent to the press any of the things that passed through his brain, for he was possessed by a kind of shyness which bore some resemblance to chastity. He himself, at any rate, was unable better to describe this diffidence than by asking those who urged him to publicity: “would you send your daughter out into the street without so much as a wrap?”
This, of course, was again reported as one of the many sallies that made people say: “Really that Havelaar is a peculiar man!” And I will not deny the truth of this. But if one had taken the trouble to translate his unusual mode of expression, one would have probably found in the strange question concerning the toilet of a girl the theme for a treatise on the chastity of a mind which is shy of the stare of loutish passers-by, and which would cloak itself in a mantle of virginal timidity.
Yes, they would be happy at Rangkas-Betoong, Havelaar and “his Tine”! The only care that still weighed on their minds was that of the debts they had left behind in Europe, added to the expenses still unpaid of the voyage back to India, and to the cost of furnishing their house. But they were not in real need. Would they not live on one-half, nay one-third of his income? Perhaps
