in a limp veil. It was as though Adolphine felt this, for she said, enviously:
"I didn't trouble to put on anything decent, in this beastly rain."
Cateau looked meaningly at the carriage outside:
"So you're going to Con-stance' al-so? … "
"Yes. But when will Van der Welcke be here? Saetzema is waiting to pay his visit until Van der Welcke comes. … "
"You see?" said Karel to Cateau.
"Oh?" asked Cateau, drawling her words more than ever. "Is Saet-zema wait-ing until Van der Wel-cke comes? … Oh, I told Karel to come with me because, per-haps, it wouldn't look friend-ly. … What do you think of Con-stance, Adolphine? Karel thinks his sis-ter so al-tered, so al-tered. … "
"Yes, she's altered. She has grown old, very old," said Adolphine, who, herself four years younger than Constance, looked decidedly older.
"Oh, I don't know!" said Karel, trying to defend his sister. "You would never say she was forty-two. … "
"Oh, is she forty-two?" drawled Cateau.
"I'll tell you what I think," said Adolphine. "I don't think Constance looks a bit distinguished."
When Adolphine was envious and jealous—and that was generally—she said the exact opposite of what she thought in her heart.
"Not a bit distinguished!" she repeated, with conviction. "There is something in the way she does her hair, in those rings of hers—I don't know—something not quite respectable. … "
"Yes, something foreign," said Karel, feebly, by way of an excuse.
"I think," said Cateau, "Con-stance has something about her that's not quite prop-er. … "
"Oh," said Adolphine, "but propriety isn't her strong point!"
"Never was," grinned Karel, in his turn.
"If she had only stayed in Brussels!" snapped Adolphine.
"Ah!" said Cateau, opening big owl's eyes. "Do you think so too?"
"Yes. And you?"
"So do we, re-ally," drawled Cateau, more cheerfully, forgetting the brougham waiting in the wet.
"Yes," said Adolphine, with conviction. "What are we to do with a sister like that?"
"Whom you can't let any one meet," growled Karel under his breath.
"Oh, dear!" whined Cateau to Adolphine. "Do you think so too?"
"And," said Adolphine, "mark my words, you'll see, she's full of pretensions. You know the sort of thing," with an envious wave of the hand. "Society … pushing herself … perhaps even going to Court."
"No!" drawled Cateau. "Sure-ly for that, even Constance would have too much tact."
"I'm not so sure!" growled Karel.
Unlike Bertha and Constance, Adolphine had not been presented at Court, because, after Constance' marriage Papa and Mamma van Lowe, feeling old and tired, had taken to living more quietly. She could never forgive them for it.
"No!" droned Cateau. "But then you are such a regular, good, Dutch wife and mo-ther, Adolph-ine. That's what I al-ways say to Ka-rel."
Adolphine looked flattered.
"Yes, but," said Karel, by way of excuse, "you mustn't look to Constance for what she has never been. She went straight to Rome after her first marriage."
"Those Court circles are always fast," Adolphine declared.
"And then, in Rome," cried Cateau, clasping her fat hands, "such things hap-pen!"
Adolphine rose: her visit was paid. She had a great deal more to talk about, among others the way in which Bertha had, so to speak, forced her daughter Emilie into her engagement with Van Raven; but it was growing late: she took her leave. Karel and Cateau went straight to the brougham:
"Oh, de-ar!" said Cateau, in a startled voice. "How wet the carriage has got!"
They drove to pay their visits. First, they drove to the Ruyvenaers: Karel rang; fortunately, Uncle and Aunt were out. Cards for Uncle and Aunt. Next—Cateau consulted her list—to Mrs. van Friesesteijn, an old friend of Mrs. van Lowe's. At home. A cantankerous, shrivelled little old lady, always alert for news:
"Glad to see you, Cateau. Sit down, Van Lowe. So, Constance is back, I hear."
"Ye-es," drawled Cateau, "it's ve-ry unpleas-ant for us."
"And how is Constance?"
"Oh, she's all right," said Karel, casually.
"You see, me-vrouw," droned Cateau, "she's Karel's sis-ter, isn't she?"
"So you're all receiving her?"
"Yes, because of Mamma, you know."
"And Bertha too?"
"Ye-e-es, Berth-a, too."
"And will she go to Court again, do you think?"
"Well, Adolph-ine said that she'd be sure to go to Court again."
"I think that's wrong of Constance," said the old lady, sharply, inquisitively, eager for a bit of scandal. "And Bertha's Emilie is soon to be married."
"Ye-es. And Adolph-ine's Floor-tje too."
"I hear Emilie is to have a splendid trousseau," said the old lady. "Floortje's will be much less grand, I suppose?"
"Not so fine," drawled Cateau. "But still ve-ry nice. What terrible wea-ther, me-vrouw! … Come, Ka-rel, we must be go-ing on. … "
In the brougham again. Next visit to Mr. and Mrs. IJkstra, cousins of Cateau, who was born an IJkstra:
"How d'ye do, Pie-ie-iet? How d'ye do, An-na?"
"How d'ye do, Cateau? How d'ye do, Karel? So Constance is back?"
"Yes. What do you thi-i-i-ink of it? And they all say ev-erywhere, that she is go-ing to Court."
"Oh!"
"Nonsense!"
"Yes, Adolph-ine said so … and so did Mrs. van Frie-sesteijn."
"How mad of Mrs. van der Welcke, with that past of hers!"
"Perhaps it's her husband who wants to go."
"Oh, no doubt it's her husband."
"And how does she look?"
"Oh, so-so! Of course, she's Ka-rel's sis-ter, but I think her not so ve-ry distin-guished."
"Oh, well, I think her rather smart!" growled Karel, a little crossly.
"Oh, Ka-rel! … Well, smart, if you like, but not what I call good ta-aste."
"Rather foreign, I suppose?" asked Anna IJkstra.
"Ye-es. And so many rings: that's what I don't like. And her hair: all curled and waved, puffed right out, you know. So ridic-ulous … because she's ve-ry grey, you know. … "
"Oh, really!"
"Yes. What terrible wea-ther, An-na. … We ought to be go-ing on, Ka-rel."
"Where?" growled Karel.
"To the Van Ra-vens."
"Oh, no!" muttered Karel. "It's raining so. … And I have to get out all the time and ring the bell."
"But haven't you a footman?" asked Anna, pretending not to know.
"I say, what next!" muttered Karel. "A footman, indeed!"
"But, Ka-rel, in that case, let