When Addie found the telegram he at once took the train to Driebergen. It was evening when he arrived.
"What's the matter with Emilie?" he asked his mother.
"She's crying all day long," said Constance.
"It's just like last year."
He went straight upstairs to Emilie's room and found her sobbing, sobbing in Adeline's arms.
"I'm at my wits' ends what to do with her," said Adeline.
"Leave me alone with her for a moment, Aunt," whispered Addie. "Here," feeling in his pocket, "here's a letter from Guy, posted in New York. You'll see that he has found work, thanks to Mr. Brauws' introduction."
Adeline left the room; Emilie went on sobbing. She flung herself on the floor, with her face against a chair and her hair dishevelled, her thin hands grasping the chair.
"Addie!" she cried. "Addie! Is that you?"
"Yes, Emilie."
"Oh, it's suffocating me, it's suffocating me! . . . Let me tell you about it! . . ."
He sat down and she came to him with the movement of an animal creeping towards him. She stammered incoherent words, but he understood them: he knew the words of old; he knew what she was saying: it had been the same thing last year and the year before. At the beginning of each summer there was some fit of madness which mastered her,
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