"Always was."
"Always was."
"She was older than he, she knew the world...."
"And she seduced him; he was quite a youngster."
It all sounded as though the years, the many years, had never existed.
"Yes, but, you know, it's sometimes difficult, for a woman who's young and pretty...."
"Then why did she marry such an old man?"
"Out of vanity, nothing but vanity."
They judged, defended and condemned her as though the years, the many years, had never existed.
The acquaintances of the Van Lowes, or of their acquaintances, or the relations of their relations were no worse than other people. But they met one another at tea-parties and at evening-parties, at the Witte and at Scheveningen, and they must have food for conversation. Whatever important things might be happening in the world, the one interest, when all was said, was to discuss, over and over again, a case like that of Constance. They disliked neither her nor Van der Welcke; and her case even attracted their interest, if not their sympathies. Only, the Van der Welckes must not think that their memory was so poor that they did not remember the "case" jolly well.... Only, the Van der Welckes ought not to have come back to the Hague, bringing fresh scandal into the exalted morality of the different Hague sets.... Only, there must be no question that people who were so much talked about should dream of being presented to Court....