"And we never met?"
"I so seldom went into town. If I had known . . ."
"But what a pity!"
"Yes. And what's still funnier is that, when you were on the Riviera, I was there too."
"Look here, old fellow, you're kidding me!"
"I never knew till later that you were there also that year. But you were at Monte Carlo and I at Antibes. Just compare the dates."
They compared dates: Brauws was right.
"But that was horribly unlucky."
"It couldn't be helped. However, we've found each other now."
"Yes. We must see something of each other now, eh? Let's go cycling together . . . or buy a motor-car between us."
Brauws roared with laughter again:
"Happy devil!" he shouted.
"I?" cried Van der Welcke, a little huffed. "What's there happy about me? I sometimes feel very miserable, very miserable indeed."
Brauws understood that he was referring to his marriage.
"Here's my boy," said Van der Welcke, showing Addie's photograph.
"A good face. What's he going to be?"
"He's going into the diplomatic service. I say, shall we take a stroll?"
