“Do you look upon it with so much scorn?” she asked, jestingly.
He was about to answer, when there was a ring at the bell; and she cried:
“Ah, here they are!”
Amélie entered, with Suzette and Anna. They were a little surprised to see Quaerts. He said he had wanted to call on Mrs. van Even. The conversation became general. Suzette was very merry, full of a fancy-fair, at which she was going to assist, in a Spanish costume.
“And you, Anna?”
“Oh, no, Auntie!” said Anna, shrinking together with fright. “Imagine me at a fancy-fair! I should never sell anybody anything.”
“Ah, it’s a gift!” said Amélie, with a far-away look.
Quaerts rose: he was bowing with a single word to Cecile, when the door opened. Jules came in, with some books under his arm, on his way home from school.
“How do you do, Auntie? Hallo, Taco, are you going just as I arrive?”
“You drive me away,” said Quaerts, laughing.