rowning glory of her old age, as a mother and grandmother.
It represented to her a beautiful idea, a natural ideal, an illusion
attained: a comfort for the peaceful declining years of the lonely woman
in her big house. That she preferred to be lonely in her big house and
would not have Dorine, nor Ernst, nor Paul to live with her was an
eccentricity which in no way detracted from her cult of the beautiful
idea, from her perfect happiness at seeing the ideal realized, the
illusion attained. She had a happy old age. She had also had much sorrow
in her big household, in spite of all her splendour, but not more than
her natural share: money-troubles, because neither Van Lowe nor she was
economical; two children lost, one after the other; while Constance'
false step was certainly a very heavy blow, under which she suspected
that Van Lowe had really succumbed, suffering silently and incessantly
because of the grief which his favourite daughter had caused him.... But
she, though she too had suffered, had shown greater elasticity, had not
counted all that sorrow for more than her human lot, such as might
befall any large household. And that she now, in her extreme old age,
had all her children gathered about her in the same town, in a close
family-circle, in an affectionate family-life: this she considered a
great happiness; she thanked God for it. She had no more religion of the
church-going kind than was held to be correct in her circle, which was
very different from the orthodox Calvinistic circle of a few old Hague
families; but she was grateful to God in her heart. She thanked God for
her happiness, for her happy old age. All was well, now that she had
Constance back also, back with the others at the Hague. Next to
Buitenzorg, the Hague had always been to her the ideal place of
residence. The Court was there; and her husband had taught her to love
splendour. There was an atmosphere of official eminence in their circle
in which she took pleasure as in an element that had become natural to
her and in which Van Naghel and Bertha also had attained their
distinction and their high position. Karel had returned to the Hague,
after burgomastering elsewhere; and in him she had her son back again,
although, in her secret heart, she did not like Cateau. Gerrit, who had
been a subaltern at Deventer and Venlo, was now a captain at the Hague.
And the other children had never left the Hague; she had always been
able to keep them round her.