NOTEN
1. Hendrikus Frederikus van der Kallen,
roepnaam aanvankelijk Riekie, later
Rieks, tenslotte Hans, werd in
Leeuwarden geboren in de
stormachtige nacht van vrijdag 19
februari 1904, op een twintigtal meters
van de kamer in hotel Amicitia waar hij
in de middag van 22 juni 1964 overleed.
Zijn pseudoniem bedacht Anton van
Duinkerken (Willem Asselbergs) tijdens
een feestje ter gelegenheid van het feit
dat Hans' eerste roman door Bruna was
geaccepteerd.
2. Friese Koerier 4-11-1953: Als
kantoorbediende mislukt. Leeuwarder jongen
beroemd door zijn detective-romans.
3. Cynthia Isobel Trevor Vickers,
geboren in Willesden 2 november 1907.
Zij huwde Hans, 'my poor dear Hens',
op 23 september 1946; overleed in
Wimbledon op 30 november 1986.
4. Spectrum-uitgave, Nederlands van
André Noorbeek, deel I, p. 5.
5. Ibid., p. 8-9.
6. Ibid., p. 7.
7. Namelijk op 7 februari 1812.
8. Ab Visser, Schaduw... waarom? in:
Het klooster van Sint Jurriaan.
Pauwhofherinneringen.
Utrecht/Antwerpen, z.j., p. 78.
9. Het s-pookslot aan de Loire, 1936. De
opdracht daarin luidt: A ma défunte
mère, si loin et pourtant si proche. R.
10. In: De Groene Amsterdammer, 6
december 1989, geciteerd in The Dutch
Dickensian volume XI, december 1989,
no. 20.
11. In: Vier Schaduwen en een spook, 1958.
12. In: Het klooster van St. Jurriaan.
Pauwhofherinneringen. Schaduw...
waarom? Utrecht/Antwerpen, z.j., p. 78.
13. Ik dacht aan Dickens' The haunted
man.
14. In hun woning in Wetherby
Gardens, Londen, beleefden Hans en
Cynthia, zoals zij het mij vertelde:
'Fie said to me, just suddenly as you
would say, after dinner, or something,
he said to me: "You must not be afraid;
there is a ghost here. I have seen it.
Twice." I do not like... I had never seen
a ghost... I said: "A ghost? Well, it could
be in a place like this. They are very
old houses of course, Wetherby
Gardens..." And I said: "But where?
What is it?" He said: "Oh, it is an old
man. Rather bent. Looks like a care
taker, or something like that. And we
walked..." There is a rather long
passage there... It is a converted flat in
a large house. It belonged to an
Austrian lady. It was a nice flat, I
suppose spacious... And so I said to
Hens: "Oh, I wish you had not told me.
I do not like this." He said: "But you
need not be the least afraid; it is not
malivolent. It is a friendly ghost."
But one morning, I was going to the
bathroom... The bathroom was here...
and the kitchen was there... And the
bathroom door was open like that...
that is the hall... and it was dark, the
hall, as a lot of these old London
houses are. I had to have the light on
all day... And i was cleaning my teeth
facing that way... you see. And I saw
this old man, very slowly... he wüs
bent... He was as Hens had described
him! He was bent, and he was old, and
he walked still slowly like that... he
never looked and I never saw his face...
But it was a greyish figure, very grey,
grey hair... And I rushed to Hens, and I
said: "My god, I have seen the ghost.
But... it was nog malivolent, because I
was not afraid..." You see, if somebody
would have said: This flat is haunted, I
have seen a ghost!" I would scream...
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