Page:Eekhoud - The New Carthage.djvu/255

Rh fists and knives! I'd as lief join a band of downright thieves!

"And then, too, the invention of steam lighters has forced me to sell my boat for kindling wood. And, to finish the matter, here are our sons who can no longer find positions. The heads of the big firms here engage only Germans. The best disposed toward their poor fellow-citizens, for example, Daelmans-Deynze and Bergmans, are besieged with demands and have already taken on more than twice as many employees as they need! As a special favor they have been willing to take on our Felix. And they are talking of sending him to their Hamburg branch. We should have to wait until a place became vacant for Pierket. But between now and then we have plenty of time to starve … You can see that if s the end. Antwerp doesn't want us any more. So we have made up our minds to leave—all of us! And, if we must die, at least we shall have struggled valiantly until the last effort to live!…"

And Vincent forced back, with a frightful oath, the emotion that was strangling him.

"No, no!" cried Laurent, clapping him on the Back to comfort him. "You shall not go, my brave old Vincent! And I doubly bless the inspiration that brought me here! Since this morning I have become rich, my dear man! I have more than enough to help you and yours. I have more than thirty thousand francs at your command, dear friend. You never suspected me of it, I suppose. Very well, then! Come, come, cease your lamenting … But before going back to Siska and the children, let me complete the project. The money which it would be repugnant to you to accept at the hands of a friend, you will be forced to take