"Lucky lad!" commented Nicholas; "so few of us are without enemies.
And your parents, Jan, will they live with you?"

"We wished it," answered Jan, "both Christina and I. But the mother
is feeble. The old mill has grown into her life."

"I can understand," agreed Nicholas. "The old vine torn from the old
wall withers. And your father, Jan; people will gossip. The mill is
paying?"

Jan shook his head. "It never will again; and the debts haunt him.
But all that, as I tell him, is a thing of the past. His creditors
have agreed to look to me and wait."

"All of them?" queried Nicholas.

"All of them I could discover," laughed Jan.

Nicholas Snyders pushed back his chair and looked at Jan with a smile
upon his wrinkled face. "And so you and Christina have arranged it
all?"

"With your consent, sir," answered Jan.

"You will wait for that?" asked Nicholas.

"We should like to have it, sir." Jan smiled, but the tone of his
voice fell agreeably on Nicholas Snyders' ear. Nicholas Snyders loved
best beating the dog that, growled and showed its teeth.