"Mum, now," said Marjon, "we can't do anything against that braying. But never mind. We have two of them now--_The Star Song_ and _The Autumn Song_. At this rate we shall get rich. And I'll make something yet out of _The Father Song_; but in the morning, I think--not to-night. We've earned at least our day's wages, and we can go on a lark with contented minds. Will you go, Jo?" "Marjon," said Johannes, musingly, hesitating an instant before he consented, "do you know who Pluizer is?" "No!" said Marjon, bluntly. "Do you know what he would say?" "Well?" asked Marjon, with indifference. "That you are altogether impossible." "Impossible? Why?" "Because you cannot exist, he would say. Such beings do not and cannot exist." "Oh, he must surely mean that I ought only to steal and swear and drink gin. Is that it? Because I'm a circus-girl, hey?" "Yes, he would say something like that. And he would also call this about the Father nothing but rot. He says the clouds are only wetness, and the sunshine quiverings, and nothing else; that they could be the expression of anything is humbug." "Then he would surely say that, too, of a book of music?" asked Marjon. "That I do not know," replied Johannes, "but he does say that light and darkness are exactly the same thing." "Oh! Then I know him very well. Doesn't he say, also, that it's the same thing if you stand on your head or on your heels?" "Exactly--that is he," said Johannes, delighted. "What have you to say about it?" "That for all I care he can stay standing on his head; and more, too, he can choke!" "Is that enough?" asked Johannes, somewhat doubtfully. "Certainly," said Marjon, very positively. "Should I have to tell him that daytimes it is light, and night-times it is dark? But what put you in mind of that Jackanapes?" "I do not know," said Johannes. "I think it was those footers." * * * * * Then they went into the deck-house where Keesje was already lying on the broad, leather-cushioned settee, all rolled up in a little ball, and softly snoring; and this cabin served the two children as a lodging-house. XIV On the second day they came to the great cathedral which, fortunately, was then not yet complete, and made Johannes think of a magnificent, scrag-covered cliff. And when he heard that it was really going to be completed, up to the highest spire, he was filled with respect for those daring builders and their noble creation. He did not yet know that it is often better to let beautiful conceptions rest, for the reason that, upon earth, consummated works are sometimes really less fine and striking than incomplete projects.