My
two younger brothers were also married, and both had begun to rear
families.
"Only you, Peter," said my mother, "my favourite son, the flower of the
flock, are alone and childless."
I had not, since Anna's death, given a thought to marrying again, but
my mother's words appealed to me with some force when I reflected that
I owed it to my country not to lead a life of selfish celibacy. I would
never love with the strength of my first love which I had given to
Anna; but there seemed to be no reason why I should not become the head
of a house, and the father of a family, so that I might live again in
my children.
Now, it so fell out that Pauline Rutter, a niece of De Decker, came at
this time to stay with her uncle at Amsterdam, and as I was a frequent
visitor at De Decker's house, I often met her. Pauline was proud, dark,
and self-willed--the very opposite of what Anna Holstein had been when
I married her, and for this reason, perhaps, I liked her the more,
since it put an end to all comparison between her and Anna, to whom I
had given my first love.
Pauline was flattered by the attention I paid her, and when at length I
asked her to become my wife she made no secret of her satisfaction at
the prospect of becoming Madam Van Bu.
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