he really fights shy of people. He collects things, all sorts of things: china, books, old maps. . . .”
“And Paul?”
“No, Paul does nothing.”
“But how strange!”
“What?”
“That they have none of them done anything to distinguish themselves: none of Papa’s sons. . . .”
“But, Connie, they’re all quite nice!” cried Dorine, indignantly. “Well, yes, Ernst is rather queer; and of course it’s not right that Paul should do nothing. . . .”
“I oughtn’t to have said it, Dorine. . . . But Papa would have liked to see his children distinguished. . . .”
Dorine felt annoyed, and at the same time, confused: distinguished, distinguished. . . . And her thoughts muttered within her mind, while Constance stood looking at the portrait: distinguished, distinguished. . . . Constance did well to talk of being distinguished! . . . True, she had made a great marriage: De Staffelaer, the minister at Rome, an old diplomatist, a friend of Papa’s. . . . True, she had been distinguished, no doubt; and it had turned out nicely, her distinguished marriage. Distinguished indeed! . . . Could Constance really be vain still . . . perhaps because she was now Baroness van der Welcke? A fine thing, that scandal with Van der Welcke! . . . Distinguished, distinguished . . . well, no, they were none of them distinguished. But then everybody couldn’t be Vice-
