“A good fellow, that de Woude!” said Mr. Verstraeten, when he had gone, and Lili returned to the small drawing-room, and as she went heard mamma also express herself favourably about Georges, charmed as she was with his polished courteousness.
“He always gives us a call when he can. Of course he would not do so if there were no girls in the house, if we received no company, but still——” [[122]]
Lili heard no more; she smiled at her own fancies, in which she saw herself together with Georges, gliding over the ice, their hands clasped in each other’s.
Marie came home, accompanied by Freddie, Paul, and Etienne, who took leave at the door; she entered the room tired out, cold, with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. It had been splendid; the ice was crowded, the little Eekhofs, Eline, and Henk were there.
“De Woude has called here,” said Madame Verstraeten. “He has been back these three days.”
“Indeed!” said Marie with indifference, and she began to unclasp her little cloak.
“And he asked me to go skating with him, when I am better,” said Lili, somewhat embarrassed, and with a little cough.
Marie all at once stopped undoing her cloak, and looked at her sister in astonishment.
“De Woude? With you? And what did you say?”
“That I thought it very nice of him, of course. What else should I have said?”