vement, which she missed
so greatly in her own house, where her quiet life was interrupted only
by those family-gatherings every Sunday evening. Yes, she loved being
with Van Naghel and Bertha; she loved to see her son-in-law take a
prominent place in society, as her husband had done in his time; she
loved the solid, dignified, official house; and the modernity of the
children, although now and again she would shake her head in
disapproval, made her smile for all that, because she thought that
people must go with the times and that Van Naghel and Bertha were very
sensible not to hold the reins too tightly. It was true, there were
manners which she did not like: that going out of young girls alone,
letting themselves in at night with their latch-keys; but then it was
only to a few personal friends, said Bertha, and it was impossible to
make other arrangements. Yes, the old woman loved being here, in the
house of her eldest daughter; and, though she cared for all her
children, because they were her children, she felt more in her element
at Bertha's than in the comfortable, middle-class, selfish house of
Karel and Cateau, whom she blamed for having no children; and, though,
she also liked Gerrit and Adeline's younger household, with the children
ranging from eight years down to ten months, a troop of fair-haired
mites, things were too simple and everyday for her there, did not remind
her of her ancient splendours; she could not stand Gerrit sometimes,
when he made fun of his old mother for mentioning, quite casually, that
she had met the Russian envoy at Bertha's. And going to Adolphine and
Van Saetzema's always vexed her: it was as though she did not recognize
her child in Adolphine, with her badly-arranged, common house and
Adolphine so bitter and so envious and jealous of Bertha, especially now
that Floortje was engaged and her trousseau, of course, could not be as
fine as Emilie's. Yes, she went to Adolphine's and discussed the
trousseau there also, but she did not care about it: not because it was
simple--a trousseau could be very nice in spite of that--but because
Adolphine was always so spiteful, with her perpetual "Yes, that's good
enough for us; but, of course, at Bertha's!..." She felt herself a
mother to all her children--had she a favourite? She thought not--but
she was very fond of going to Bertha's, because she found her own past
there.

And what the old woman loved above all things in Bertha's house was the