were trumps:

"Oh, what _kassian_!"[27] said Auntie.

"Ka-rel," said Cateau, excitedly, "as the eld-est bro-ther, you _must_
inter-fere and _stop_ that du-el!"

"I? Thank you: not if I know it!"

"You must, Ka-rel: You are the eld-est bro-ther.... Of course, Van
Na-ghel"--and she pronounced the name with a certain reverence--"is the
hus-band of your eld-est sist-er; but if he, if
Van"--reverentially--"Van Na-a-ghel refuses to inter-fere, then it's
_your_ duty, Ka-rel, as the eld-est bro-ther, to stop that du-el."

"It won't come off!" said Toetie, good-humouredly.

"_Massa_,[28] brothers-in-law don't fight!" said Auntie Lot. "But
Adolphine shouldn't have behaved like that.... Very wrong of Adolphine."

"But it's sa-ad, all the same, _very_ sa-ad, for Adolph-ine, all those
art-ides," whined Cateau. "They up-set her. She's cry-ing, And it's
anything but plea-sant for Van Na-ghel, don't you _think_, Un-cle?"

This to Uncle Ruyvenaer, who was standing behind her.

"It's beastly, it's beastly!" said Uncle. "They ought never to have come
and lived here. It was very wrong of Marie to encourage them."

"Oh, well, Herman," said Auntie, "you must remember she's the mother!"

"Just for that reason...."

"Oh, Papa!" said Toetie, wearily. "That old _perkara_!"[29]

"Nothing but _korek_ in _tempo doeloe_ in Holland," said Auntie,
crossly.

"Well, Aunt-ie," said Cateau, taking offence, "they're not al-ways so
mor-al in the Ea-east!"

"But there's not so much talk in Java as here," said Auntie, angrily.

"Oh, I daresay they do some talk-ing there too!"

"But not so spitefully!" said Auntie, very angrily and finding her Dutch
words with great difficulty. "Not ... not so cruelly, so cruelly."

"They ought never to have come and lived here," Uncle Ruyvenaer
repeated.

And he fussed off to Van Saetzema, whose eyes were still filled with
terror at the possible duel.

"Look, Mamma," said Toetie, winking towards Auntie Tine and Auntie Rine,
who were sitting side by side in a corner of the big drawing-room, each
with her knitting in her lap. "Those two are quite happy! They don't
bother about all these matters! They don't know anything."

"In Holland...." said Auntie, crossly.

"But in the Ea-east!" ... Cateau at once broke in, spitefully.

The rubber was spoilt, for Auntie, in her present state of irritation,
could no longer see the cards in her hand. The old Indian lady felt that
there was hostility to Constance a