"The things you see in clouds, Valérie! It's astonishing. How one person differs from another! I should never take it into my head to go and sketch clouds. You ought to come for a cruise with me one day; then you could make whole collections of clouds."
"Why didn't you propose that earlier?" said Valérie, jestingly. "Then I might have joined you and Xara."
"But where is Othomar?" said Herman.
Valérie said that she did not know....
Herman sipped his sherry-cobbler. Wanda wanted a taste, but Herman refused and told her to ring for a glass for herself. Wanda insisted; he seized her by the wrists.
"But Wanda!" Sofie repeated, reprovingly, languidly, drawing her hand over her forehead and laying down her brush.
Wanda laughed gaily:
"But Wanda!" she mimicked.
And they all laughed at Sofie, including Sofie herself:
"Did I speak like that?" she asked, with her languid voice. "I don't know: I get so sleepy here, so lazy...."