"Why, what are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? What everybody's talking about: that Marianne is running after Van der Welcke in the most barefaced fashion."
"Aunt Bertha had better be very careful, with such a rotten cad as Uncle van der Welcke," Floortje opined.
"I passed them the other evening on the Koninginnegracht," said Jaap.
"And what were they doing?"
"How were they walking?"
"They had hold of each other."
"How?"
"Well, he had his arm around her waist."
"Did you see it?"
"Did I see it? And he kept on spooning her all the time."
"And Bertha," said Adolphine, "who just acts as if she saw nothing . . . Good heavens, what a frump Cateau looks to-night! . . . She doesn't seem to be coming, does she?"
"No, she doesn't seem to be coming now."
"How does Mamma take it, her staying away?"
"Mamma seems to get on without her," answered Uncle Ruyvenaer.
"Mamma can't really be fond of her."
"Or else Granny would insist on her coming," said Floortje.
"It's much quieter, now that she's staying away."
