"Dear Mamma, it's better in the country. Adolph wanted us to look round in Overijssel, but I would rather be at Baarn, for instance: it's nearer to the Hague and you . . ."
"Why, Baarn, my child? There's nobody there but Amsterdam people, business-people: such a very different set from ours! . . ."
"We sha'n't expect to make friends, Mamma, at first. I shall be alone with the girls. Otto and Frances have found a little house at the Hague: it's lucky that Otto is provided for at the Foreign Office. The minister spoke very nicely about him the other day . . . Frans and Henri must finish their university-course quickly now," she said, in a hesitating tone. "Karel is going to a boarding-school, for I can't manage him. And Marietje too: she was going soon, in any case. So there will be just the three of us: Louise, Marianne and I . . . Things have changed very much, all at once, Aunt Lot. We want to live quietly. In the first place, we shall just have to live quietly; and the girls are quite content to do so . . ."
It again seemed to Constance as if Bertha were looking for somebody in the room, were hushing something up. Constance had Emilie's name on her lips, but she did not like to ask. Mamma knew nothing more than that Emilie and Van Raven sometimes had differences.
"I shall have a lot of trouble and worry before
