"Yes, Mr. Takma. I'll just see you home. You've really stayed out too late to-day; Elly thought so too; and Adèle will be uneasy...."
"Very well, child, do; see the old man home."
He took her arm; and his now irregular step tottered as Anna let them out.
"Juffrouw," said the old woman, upstairs, when the companion was about to light the lamp, "wait a moment and just look out of the window. Tell me: there, on the other side of the road, through those leaves falling ... isn't there something ... something white ... passing?"
The companion looked through the window:
"No, mevrouw, there's nothing. But there's a mist rising. Mr. Takma has stayed much too long again."
She closed the shutters and lit the lamp. The old woman sat and took her soup; then the companion and old Anna put her to bed.
[CHAPTER XII]
Old Mr. Pauws came to meet them at the station, in the evening, at Brussels: