In her secret heart she thought the sweet jelly delicious.
"Aunt Adolphine wants to talk to you, Addie," said Constance, when the meal was over.
Adolphine now felt very humble. Yes, she would like to talk to Addie; and she went out with him alone.
"She's come about Marietje," said Constance, when Adolphine and Addie had left the room.
"But why didn't she write," asked Van der Welcke, "instead of coming down?"
Suddenly the sound of Adolphine's sobbing reached their ears from the next room.
"Is Marietje really bad, Auntie?" asked the girls.
And they sat expectantly. The voices of Adolphine and Addie sounded one against the other from behind the folding-doors. They listened in spite of themselves.
"She must certainly change her present environment," said Addie.
Adolphine sobbed: