"I thought you knew all about it."
"No," said Adolphine, humbly, and did not add that the solicitor had once told Karel, but that they had all refused to believe it. "So Mamma ... is really living at your expense!"
Constance smiled:
"Her needs are so small ... poor Mamma!"
"But you keep a special maid for her?"
"Yes, that's the only thing."
"Still, it makes everything dearer, in food ... and taxes."[1]
"Yes," said Constance, calmly.
She heard Van der Welcke and Addie come down the stairs; they entered the room. And it was strange to see the father and son together: Van der Welcke with his irrepressibly young, bright face and his boyish eyes, though his hair was turning grey and he was becoming a little stout from his sedentary life; and Addie beside him, with his serious directness of mind, like a very elderly young man, his grey eyes filled with thought and care.
"Addie tells me Marietje's not at all well," said Van der Welcke, by way of preamble.