Summary

In Chapter 61, Willem returns from his stint in the Navy. He is now a man and his purse is full of money, the payment for the time he has spent defending his country. He has enough money to get out of the Navy and open a cheese shop. Despite his original disappointment, he wants Maria to be there with him. Through his months at sea, he has not been able to forget her.

Willem goes straight to the house in which she once lived and worked. He is able to look into the house through the open front windows. He sees that the paintings are turned to face the wall and that some furniture is draped in black. Willem is first afraid that it is Maria who has died but remembers she is too young for death. He decides it must be Cornelis...