"Because Lot is going to be married."
"She'll be very lonely, poor Lietje; yet Steyn is a decent fellow.... It's a pity.... I like Steyn...."
"We are all of us lonely," said Mrs. Dercksz; and the cracked voice sounded sad, as though she were regretting a past full of vanished shades.
"Not all of us, Ottilie," said Takma. "You and I have each other. We have always had each other.... Our child, when Lot is married, will have no one, not even her own husband."
"Ssh!" said the old woman; and the straight, lean figure gave a shiver of terror in the twilight.
"There's no one here; we can speak at our ease."
"No, there's no one...."
"Did you think there was some one?"
"No, not now.... Sometimes ..."
"Yes?"