ladies looked at each other;
and it was as though the two mothers, with that long, long look, asked
each other's forgiveness, after many long years, for their two children.
Then Mrs. van Lowe approached and put out her two hands; and her words
sounded very simple:

"I am so delighted to make your acquaintance, mevrouw...."

Yes, they asked, without saying so, they asked each other's forgiveness
for the offence which their two children had committed, years and years
ago, against each other and against themselves and against their lives.
They asked each other's forgiveness with the unspeakable gentleness of
two very old women who still looked upon their children, whatever their
age might be, as children, as their children. They asked each other's
forgiveness without words, with a glance and a pressure of the hands;
and Constance understood so plainly what they were asking each other
that she quietly left the room, feeling suddenly like a child, a tiny
child that had behaved badly towards those two mothers.... Constance
felt it so intensely that she went by herself, through the dining-room,
into the conservatory and wept, very quietly, swallowing her tears
behind her handkerchief. And the old ladies were left together, the two
mothers, so different one from the other: one, Mrs. van Lowe, a woman
who perhaps had seen much more of life and understood it better than the
other, Mrs. van der Welcke, who had always lived quietly, always at
Driebergen, with her Bible ... until the strange book had fallen into
her hands....

They were left together and the very many things which they said to each
other and asked of each other, in silence, were not audible in the
simple words of Constance' mother:

"May I help you take off your hat and your cloak, mevrouw?"

And, as she assisted Mrs. van der Welcke, she apologized for Constance
and said:

"I think your arrival must have agitated her; you must not mind her
leaving you for a moment...."

Then the old ladies sat down side by side.

"They seem to be very comfortable," said Mrs. van der Welcke and looked
around her nervously.

"I am so glad to have my child back with me," said Mrs. van Lowe.

There was very much to be said between them, but they spoke only simple
words, doubtless feeling all the unuttered rest. Their thoughts went
back, many years back: how hostile they had then felt towards each
other's children, who had disgraced each other and their two families;
if the