Old People and the Things That Pass

by Louis Couperus

"Yes."

"He's a damned villain. I gave him money."

"That was right.... But, you see, Daan, it's so long ago now."

"Yes, it's a very long time ago."

"Don't speak about it to Floor."

"No, never, never. That's why it's just as well she came with me. If she had stayed at Tegal, that damned villain might have.... Yes, it's certainly a very long time ago."

"And it's passing.... It's passing.... A little longer and ..."

"Yes, then it will all be past.... But to think that you, Harold, should have known it all this time!"

"Not so loud, not so loud! I hear something in the conservatory...."

It was Ina's dress rustling. She had heard with a beating heart, tortured with curiosity. And she had not understood a word, but she remembered the name of the dead baboe, Ma-Boeten.