Old People and the Things That Pass

by Louis Couperus

"So you're going on to Paris to-morrow?"

"Yes."

"Shall you look up Aunt Thérèse?"

"Yes, I expect so," said Elly. "We mustn't behave quite like savages."

"And then?"

"We shall go to Nice."

"Oh, really?... And ... and will you see Ottilie there?"

"Of course we shall," said Lot.

"That's right, that's right.... Yes, how can you expect a family like ours to keep up a circle of decent acquaintances?... Ottilie writes to me now and again.... She's living with an Italian.... Why they don't get married is more than I can make out."

"And why should they get married?" asked Lot.