earily closed his eyes and expressed disapproval with every bored
feature of his face:

"My dear Gerrit, don't come playing the bold swashbuckler, thinking you
can chop the world to pieces with your silly old sword. And you, Van der
Welcke, for Heaven's sake, keep calm, if you don't want to make things
worse than they are!"

"But what are we to do?" asked Constance, impatiently.

"Nothing at all," said Paul, philosophically.

[22] The _Inspector_.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

It was the middle of November; and Constance remembered that Bertha's
second at-home day was on the third Tuesday of the month. The next
number of the _Dwarskijker_ was due in a day or two; and this, although
she did not mention it again, left her practically no peace throughout
that week, in her terror of printed words of spite and malevolence. And,
as if to redeem her promise to Van der Welcke, she said that afternoon,
at lunch, that she was going to Bertha's, as it was Bertha's day. He at
once grasped her intention and, to tell the truth, was surprised that
she had not given up her plan of pushing herself. He had rather imagined
that the idea came to her in the nervous excitement produced by their
conversation, but that she would not take it seriously after the
excitement was past. He remembered that the family always looked upon
those receptions at the Van Naghels' as something very official: Mamma
van Lowe went to them once in a way; and Uncle and Aunt Ruyvenaer,
although quite out of their element, used to put in an appearance once
every winter, because they had done so at first, by mistake, and now did
not exactly know how to stay away; but none of the other relations ever
went. In the eyes of the family, those reception-days always retained a
certain official importance and aristocratic exclusiveness; and Cateau,
for instance, would say, very solemnly, to Karel that this was Ber-tha's
_day_, with a certain respect for that day on which the upper two and
three of the Hague sometimes put in an appearance, while Gerrit always
joked about the inaccessible grandeur of those reception-days of her
excellency his sister, as he called her in chaff....

Van der Welcke had it on his lips to ask Constance if Bertha knew that
she was coming, or if Constance had at least mentioned her intention to
Mamma van Lowe. But he did not feel in the mood to provoke a discussion;
and in any case Constance would do as she chose. It was raining; he
heard her t