“I have come with a message to Miss Van Ariens.”
“A very fine messenger!” answered Van Ariens, slightly smiling.
“A fine lady deserves a fine messenger. But, sir, if you will do my errand for me, I am content. ‘Tis from Madame Van Heemskirk—”
“SO then? That is good.”
“I am George Hyde, her grandson, you know.”
“Well then, I did not know. ‘Tis near dark, and I see not as well as once I did.”
“I have brought from Madame Van Heemskirk some ivory winders for Madame Jacobus.”
“Come in, come in, and tell my Arenta the message thyself. I know nothing of such things. Come in, I did not think of thee as my friend Van Heemskirk’s grandson. Welcome art thou!” and Van Ariens himself opened the parlour door, saying, “Arenta, here is George Hyde. A message he brings for thy Aunt Angelica.”
And while these words were being uttered, George delighted his eyes with the vision of Cornelia, who sat at a small table with some needlework in her hand. Arenta’s tatting was over her foot, and she had to remove it in order to rise and meet Hyde. Rem sat idly fingering a pack of playing cards and talking to Cornelia. This situation George took in at a glance; though his sense of sight was quite satisfied when it rested on the lovely girl who dropped her needle as he entered, for he saw the bright flush which overspread her face and throat, and the light of pleasure which so filled her eyes that they seemed to make her whole face luminous.
In a few moments, Arenta’s pretty enthusiasms and welcomes dissipated all constraint, and Hyde placed his chair among the happy group and fell easily into his most charming mood. Even Rem could not resist the atmosphere of gaiety and real enjoyment that soon pervaded the room. They sang, they played, they had a game at whist, and everything that happened was in some subtle, secret way, a vehicle for Hyde’s love to express itself. Yet it was to Arenta he appeared to be most attentive; and Rem was good-naturedly inclined to permit his sister to be appropriated, if only he was first in the service of Cornelia.