Fresh energy, a feeling of high spirits and courage, filled Johannes that day. At last he was going to act--to do something to end his difficulties. First, he sought an opportunity to speak with Van Lieverlee. He went to brave him in his own rooms where he had never yet been. There he saw a confused medley of dissimilar things: some rare old pieces of furniture, and oriental rugs; a large collection of pipes and weapons; a few modern books; on the wall some picture-studies of which Johannes could not glean the meaning; some French posters picturing frivolous girls. With the same glance he saw mediæval prints of saints in ecstasy, and plaster casts of wanton women, and the heads of emaciated monks. There were images of Christ in hideous nakedness, and lithographs and casts so blood-curdling, crazy, and bizarre that they made Johannes think of his most frightful dreams. "What are you here for?" asked Van Lieverlee tot Endegeest who, with an empty pipe in his mouth and a face full of displeasure, lay stretched out languidly on the floor. "I have come to ask something," said Johannes, not exactly knowing how to begin. "Not in the mood for it," drawled Van Lieverlee. The day before, Johannes would have wilted. Not so to-day. He seated himself, and thought of what Wistik had said--"Act!" "I will not wait any longer," he began again. "I have waited too long already." "The big priest has had you in hand, has he not?" said Van Lieverlee, with a little more interest. "Yes," replied Johannes; "did you know it? What do you think of him?" Van Lieverlee gaped, nodded, and said: "A knowing one! Just let him alone. Biceps! you know--biceps! All physique and intellectuality. Representative of his entire organization. Can't help respecting it, Johannes. How those fellows can thunder at the masses! One can't help taking off his hat to them. The whole lot of the Reformed aren't in it with them! Theirs is only half-work; they are irresolute in everything they give or take; _krita-krita_, as we say in Sanscrit. Whether you do good or do ill, aways do it wholly, not by halves; otherwise you yourself become the dupe. If you would keep the people down, hold them down completely. To establish a church, and at the same time talk of liberty of conscience, as do the Protestants--that is stuff and nonsense --nothing comes of it. You may see that from the results. Every dozen Protestants have their own church with its own dogmas, with its own little faith which alone can save, and with its little coterie of the elect! No, compared with them the Roman Church is at least a respectable piece of work--a formidable concern." "Do you believe in it?" asked Johannes. Van Lieverlee shrugged his shoulders.