"Well, I don't mind a bit of a kick-up," said Jaap.
"Have you had to-day's Dwarskijker, Jaap?"
"Yes, but they've stopped putting in anything about us."
"It's really a piece of cheek on her part, not to come any more on Sundays . . ."
"And to go rushing off to Nice . . ."
"And not even arrange to be back on New Year's Eve."
"Yes; and then we hear about 'longing for the family.'"
"And even on New Year's Eve . . ."
"She takes good care to keep away."
"Yes," said Adolphine sentimentally, "on New Year's Eve we ought all to be here."
"Just so," said Uncle Ruyvenaer. "I agree."
"Then, if you've had a quarrel . . ."
"You make it up again . . ."
"And start quarrelling again, with renewed courage, on the first of January," grinned Jaap.
"But—I've always said so—what Constance has not got is . . . a heart," Adolphine continued, pathetically.
"Do you know what I think?" said Floortje, sinking her voice.
"What?"
"That she encourages Marianne."
"What for?"
"Well, deliberately."
