Outside, the snow was falling in great flakes. The parlour-maid had opened the door:
"But your cab isn't here yet, ma'am. . . ."
"It doesn't matter. We'll walk."
"I must say, it's a little absurd of Mamma," said Van der Welcke, on the doorstep. "Must we go to Gerrit's . . . in this weather? And has Addie gone too? . . . Was Mamma as anxious as all that? . . . It's snowing hard, Constance: it's enough to give one one's death, to go out in this weather. . . ."
"Well, then you stay, Henri."
"Do you mean to go in any case?"
"Yes, Mamma wants me to."
"But it's absurd!"
"Perhaps so . . . but she would like it. . . . And we mayn't be able to do things to please her much longer!"
"Then send the cab on to the Bankastraat, when it comes. . . ."
"Very well, sir."
They went. . . .
"Didn't Addie go just now?"
"Yes, a minute or two before we did."
357
