certainty, both for themselves and their son, that, to grow old and be
a father and mother to their boy, they must return to their country, to
which they were attached by those strange, mysterious and
long-unsuspected bonds which may be denied for years, but which end by
reasserting themselves, irrefragably, for ever and all time....

[7] Umbrella or parasol.

[8] The title borne by noblemen's unmarried daughters.

CHAPTER V

It was Sunday afternoon.

"We must re-ally, Ka-rel, pay a coup-le of vis-its, this af-ter-noon,"
drawled Cateau van Lowe.

Karel assented: it was visiting-day.

"Where?" he asked.

She named one or two acquaintances:

"And then we must al-so go to Aunt and Un-cle Ruyvenaer; it's their
turn.... And then, Ka-rel, to your sis-ter, to Con-stance...."

"Hadn't we better wait till Van der Welcke's there? Otherwise we shall
have to go again."

"I don't think it looks friend-ly ... to wait till Van der Wel-cke
comes.... Mamma _did_ set us the exam-ple, Ka-rel, you know."

"Then wouldn't it be better, Cateau, for you to go alone first: then I
can call on Van der Welcke later. Or do you think I ought to wait until
Van der Welcke has been to see me?"

"We won't cal-culate it quite so close-ly as all _that_," said Cateau,
generously. "It looks as if we were not friend-ly.... It would be
bet-ter if you came with me _to-day_, Karel."

So they decided both to call on Constance that afternoon; and they were
on the point of starting when the bell rang and Adolphine van Saetzema
entered:

"What a nui-sance," thought Cateau. "Now the carriage will ab-solute-ly
have to wait."

It was raining; and this meant that the brougham would get wet. The
horse was jobbed; the coachman did not count: he was only a man.

"Ah, Adolph-ine! This _is_ nice of you...."

"I see your carriage is at the door.... Are you going out?"

"Yes, pres-ently, to pay a visit ... or two...."

"So am I. But don't let me keep you. I am going to Constance this
afternoon."

"So are we."

"Oh, are you? I would really rather have waited till she had called on
me."

"Oh," said Cateau, "it looks as if we weren't friend-ly, to cal-culate
it so close-ly, don't you think, Adolph-ine? But do sit down,
Adolph-ine."

Adolphine sat down, for she was paying Karel and Cateau a visit; and, if
she had not sat down, the visit would not have been paid, would not have
counted as a visit. Perhaps that was also the reason why Kar