. 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 f