ake."

"Constance, don't forget...."

"What?..."

"What he did for you, what his people did."

"Oh, if only I had never accepted that sacrifice! If only I had gone
right away, alone, somewhere far away! And then never come back to you
all.... For, as it is, it was possible, after fifteen years; but then it
would have been impossible.... To be grateful, to be grateful all the
time, while all the time I am full of bitterness: I can't do it. I can't
be grateful when I feel so bitter."

"But, Constance, you're back now and we are all glad to have you back."

"Bertha, I don't know if you mean what you say. I do know that I am
happy to be back, in Holland, among you all. But I also know that, in
twenty years, people drift far apart; and perhaps I, who had become a
stranger, was not wise to come back to all of you, to want to be a
sister to you again."

"Perhaps we shall have to get used to one another, Constance, as
sisters; but you always remained a daughter to Mamma; and I am very glad
for Mamma's sake."

"Yes, I feel that, that you all tolerate me for Mamma's sake. It is nice
of you, but it is not quite what I should have wished."

"But, Constance, all that will come later. I am convinced that soon you
will feel no longer a stranger. But don't be impatient; and let us get
used to one another again.... And there is this too, that every one has
his own interests in life; and it is a pity, but there is not always
time to feel for another and to think of another. That is very strange,
but it's true. Just think, it is two months since you came back to
Holland; and this is the first time that we have had a chance of talking
to each other. I have only once been to see you at your house. And all
this is not from heartlessness, but because one has no time."

"Yes, Bertha, I know; and I am not reproaching you; and you've been very
busy with the wedding...."

"And, when it's not a wedding, it's something else. It is always like
that, Constance. And sometimes I ask myself, why: why do we do it? Why
have all this fuss, all this bustle, all this excitement?... There is a
reason for it all: our children's happiness lies in that direction. We
do everything for our children, that's what it comes to. Van Naghel's
being in the Cabinet, my giving dinners: the reason is always, though
one doesn't always realize it, for the children, for their happiness.
But, then, Constance, then we ought to have our reward and see our
children h