In a Province [antikvár]

At the age of twenty-five Johan van Bredepoel feli seriously ill for the first time in his life. When he had recovered enough to be allowed out of doors, he found himself under doctor's orders to take a long holiday in somé quiet part of the country. Somé of his more intimate acquaintances, knowing that he was still far from well, talked things over among themselves and decided that he should be sent to Paulstad, a village in the remote Donkerberg district, and they began at once to make all the arrangements for his departure. One of them, Simmering, a violinist in the municipal orchestra of Port Benjámin, had argued the meríts of Paulstad as a health resort so convincingly before the others that he was unanimously chosen to acquaint van Bredepoel with details of the plan. Now Simmering, though he had known van Bredepoel for many years, had always respected him more than he had liked him, and therefore stood somewhat in awe of him. No sooner did he find himself being led to van Bredepoel by a hospitál nurse, than he began to have doubts as to the best way of presenting the plan. His doubts were quickly strengthened by long habits of irresolution, and his eyes, never free from a shadow of distress, began to look as if he had just finished crying. Unconsciously his steps slowed down, and once he feli so far behind his guide that she had to stop and wait for him. Luckily he was too