“Oh yes, it makes me sleep beautifully. If I don’t take wine I lie awake all night, and that is so wretched. Cordova is a beautiful city too, there is such a grand mosque there.”
And she allowed herself to be driven forward along the nervous stream of her travelling impressions. Why did not Paul travel more than he did? if she were a young man and had money, she would always travel, always. Long journeys would she make, from New York to San Francisco, and then by sea to Japan, all over the world. How beautiful! It was splendid, splendid in a railway [[254]]carriage, she could pass her life in a train! The old lady shook her head, gently smiling at her enthusiasm.
“But nicer still than all it is to come and live with you here, my dear little madam, my little dot,” she cried; and with sudden impetuosity she embraced the gray-haired old lady.
After supper Madame van Raat suggested that Eline should go and take a little rest in her room. Eline agreed, but little madam was to stay with her—would she? Paul had an appointment with some friends, and took his leave, and Henk too rose.
“May Betsy come and see you to-morrow?” he whispered a little anxiously. She smiled and looked at him questioningly, pressing his hand.
“Certainly,” she replied; “kiss her for me, will you? And how is Ben, has he grown much?”
“Oh yes, he is an immense boy. You shall see him to-morrow. Well, good-bye, Elly, good-night.”
“Good-bye, Henk, till to-morrow.”
Henk left, and Madame took Eline up-stairs to her room.
“For the present I cannot give you a sitting-room, Elly,” she said on the staircase, “at least so long as Paul is with me.”