"How seriously you answered, Mamma! That's not like you."
"Mayn't I be serious too, once in a way?"
"Why so sad and serious and tempersome lately? Is it because I am going to be married?"
"Perhaps."
"But you're fond of Elly ..."
"Yes, she's very nice."
"The best thing we can do is to go on living together; Elly's fond of you too. I've talked to Steyn about it."
Lot called his step-father, his second step-father, Steyn, without anything else, after having called his first, when he was still a boy, "Mr." Trevelley. Ottilie had been married three times.
"The house is too small," said Mamma, "especially if you go having a family soon."
And yet she thought: