"Oh, he! - yes, he has been here before. He surely hadn't much good to say of me."
"Quite the contrary!" said I. "He paid you a great compliment. He said that you were unapproachable."
Elsje laughed still louder.
"How conceited these foreigners are. Especially these dark foreigners who speak French. If you just treat them with ordinary civility they think they can allow themselves anything. I cannot be careful enough with these persons."
That was meant for me, I thought. I made a little bow and said:
"I thank you for your warning. I shall try my best not to foster any illusions and to give you no cause for exercising caution."
She became so embarrassed that I regretted my words.
"Oh, you!" she said with charming emphasis and naive candor: "I really didn't mean you! - with you I don't have to be careful - I saw that directly."
"Who knows, Juffrouw Elsie! for I am one of those dark foreigners too, and my Dutch is not yet quite irreproachable."
"You are no stranger to me," she said again, softly and earnestly.