When I got there, I found Miss Clara, and I gave her the message from the Boss, exactly as he’d said, and told her that belt was to be kept by young Dirk and by his sons after him for as long as there was family, because that was what the Boss wanted. Then I explained about the Mistress, and she told me not to worry, and that if there was trouble she’d speak to the Mistress about it. So then I left her, but I waited until early afternoon before I went home, to give the Mistress time to calm down.

There was no sign of the Mistress when I entered the house. But Hudson told me that Jan and a lawyer had arrived a short while ago and that they were with her in the parlor. So I reckoned they must have come about the will.

I went into the hallway to see if I could hear anything. The parlor door was closed. But then I heard the Mistress’s voice, very loud.

“Damn your English will. I don’t care when it was made. I have a good Dutch will.”

You can imagine I went close to the door after that. I could hear the lawyer speaking, though not what he was saying; but I heard the Mistress shouting back at him clear enough.

“What do you mean, I may stay here a year? This is my house. I’ll stay here a lifetime if I please.” Then, after the lawyer spoke some more: “Free Hudson? That’s for me to decide. Hudson belongs to me.” I could hear the lawyer’s voice, still very quiet. Then the Mistress exploded again. “I see what’s going on, you traitor. I don’t even believe my husband signed this English will. Show me his signature. Give it to me.”

There was a pause for a moment. Then I heard Jan shout.

I had my ear so close to the door now that, when it flew open, I nearly fell into the room. At the same moment, the Mistress burst past me. She was staring straight ahead. I’m not sure she even saw me. She had a document in her hand and she was making for the kitchen. The next thing I knew, I was colliding with Jan, who was rushing after her. By the time I got my balance, she’d already gone through the kitchen door with a bang, and I heard her bolt the door behind her. Jan was too late to catch her. He started shouting and hammering on that door, but it wasn’t any use.

Hudson was in the kitchen, and he told me what happened next. The Mistress went straight to the kitchen fire, and she threw that will onto the flames and stood there watching it until it was burned to a cinder. Then she took a fire iron and poked it until it was just ashes. Then, quite calm, she opened the kitchen door, where both Jan and the lawyer were standing by now.