Walter did not understand; but he asked permission to take the book home with him, that he might study it. That, however, was not possible, as Femke needed the book every day. Walter consoled himself easily, for not for anything in the world would he have endangered Femke's salvation. Femke asked him to come again. She would be glad to tell him all she knew about the matter; and, if both should get tangled up, she would ask Father Jansen about it. And then Walter would soon be as wise as she was.
Walter withdrew; i. e., after he had kissed Femke heartily. This meeting with her, the mysterious book, salvation, the fight with the boys--all these things would run through his mind whenever he tried to think of the poem. It seemed to him that there was some connection between them.
When he got home he turned through Stoffel's books, hoping to find something about holy vessels, ivory towers, and immaculate virgins. But they were all school books, and gave information about everything else but salvation. Walter was crushed, but he was still searching.
"Master Pennewip had a father and mother; and certainly old Pennewip, too, who slaughtered hogs; and the one before him, too--but who was the first Pennewip? And who slaughtered the hogs before old Pennewip? And before there were any hogs, what did butchers do? And----"
I will know all of that some day, Walter thought. If he could have only quieted himself so well about his poem! If that were only written, he thought, then he would clear up the lost causes of everything. In the meanwhile he dreamed of Femke, of her blue eyes, her friendliness, her soft lips--and of her voice, when she said, "You are a dear, sweet boy."
Could it be that she is Omicron? he thought.
And thus the child dreamed, dreamed; and, just as in the development of humanity, in his life was working a three-fold impulse, towards love, knowledge, and conflict.
"But Walter, don't you read any books at home about the creed?"
Thus Femke questioned her little friend the next day, as he sat on her basket again.
Walter repeated a stanza of a reformed church hymn. This found no favor with Femke; though she liked his reciting.
Walter reflected: he flew through Stoffel's library--works of the Poetical Society, Geology by Ippel, On Orthography, Regulations for the Fire-Watch, Story of Joseph by Hulshoff, Brave Henry, Jacob Among His Children, Sermons by Hellendoorn, A Catechism by the same, Hoorn's Song-book.