that was the beginning of krelis kess's courting of marretje de witt—about which, in a moment, all the island blazed with talk. until then, in a light-loving way, krelis had been[16] keeping company with geert thysen. that seemed a natural sort of match, for geert and krelis had much the same bold way with them and well enough might have paired. but geert, like krelis, had a devil of a temper, and it was supposed that an angry spat between them had sent krelis flying off in a rage from her spit-firing—and that the gentle marretje had caught his heart on the rebound. the elders, reasoning together out of their worldly wisdom, perceived that under the law of liking for unlike this bold-going young fellow very well might be drawn toward a maiden all gentleness; and that, because of her gentleness, marretje would find a thrilling pleasure in the strong love-making with which krelis would strive to take her heart by storm. all that, as they knew, was human nature. had they known books also they would have cited the case of desdemona and the moor.
however, there was not much time for talking. krelis was not of the sort to let grass grow under his feet in any matter, and in a love matter least of all. nor were there any obstacles to bar his way. he had his own boat, that came to him when his father was drowned; and he had his own house in the kesbeurt, where he had lived alone since his mother had ended[17] a notably short widowhood by marrying a second time. old jaap, moreover, was ready enough to accept as a son-in-law the only man in marken who ever had styled him herr visser, and who in addition to that unparalleled courtesy had given him in quick succession nearly a dozen bottles of the best schiedam. there was nothing to hinder the marriage, therefore, but marretje's shyness—and krelis overcame that quickly in his own masterful way.
and so everybody saw that matters were like to come quickly to a climax—everybody, that is, except geert thysen, who said flatly that the marriage was both impossible and absurd. geert had her own notion that krelis was serving her out for her hard words to him, and was only waiting for a soft word to come back to her—and she bit those full red lips of hers with her strong teeth and resolved that she would keep him waiting until he was quite in despair. then, at the very last, she would whistle him back to her—with a laugh in his face first, and then such a kiss as all the marretjes in the world could not give him—and the comedy of his mock courtship would be at an end. sometimes, to be sure, the thought did cross her mind that krelis might not come to her whistle.[18] then the color would go out of her red cheeks a little, and as she ground her big white teeth together she would have a half-formed vision of krelis lying dead somewhere with a knife in his heart. but visions of this sort came seldom, and were quickly banished—with a sharp little laugh at her own folly in fancying even for an instant that krelis could hesitate in choosing between herself and that limp pale doll.
and then, one day, she found herself face to face with the fact that krelis had not been playing a comedy at all. the news was all over the island that he and marretje were to be married the next sunday; and that he meant to be married handsomely, with a great wedding-feast at jan de jong's tavern in jan de jong's best style. "so there's an end of your lover for you, geert thysen!" said jaantje de waard, who brought the news to her.
at this geert's red cheeks grew a little redder, and her big black eyes had a brighter flash to them; but she only laughed as she answered: "it's one thing to lay the net—but it's another to haul it in!" and jaantje remembered afterward what a strange look was in her face as she said those strange words.
