"Soedah, I won't play with you any more!"
And, without further explanation, she broke up the table and walked straight to Constance, who sat talking to Paul in a corner:
"I'm coming to sit with you a bit, Constance!"
"Do, Auntie."
"What I want to say to you is, don't mind about it! Shake it off your cold clothes![30] What does it matter? Hor-r-rible article! But I tell you: shake it off your cold clothes!"
And Auntie talked away, suddenly lighting on all sorts of queer Dutch words and expressions, told Constance of horrible articles in India which people out there had shaken off their cold clothes.
At this moment, Bertha, Van Naghel and Marianne arrived, very late. Mamma at once went up to them. The people in the two rooms now made some attempt to adopt an attitude; and their excitement cooled down. But it struck them all that Van Naghel looked exceedingly tired, Bertha pale and Marianne as though she had been crying; her eyes were specks under her swollen lids. They exchanged vague, almost doleful good-evenings, giving a hand here, a kiss there....
After all the agitation, a gloom descended upon the family. The voices sank into a whisper. And, through the whispering, suddenly, the voices of the two old aunts sounded piercingly, as they spoke to the Van Naghels:
"Yes, yes, I remember you, I know you. Good-evening, Van Naghel."
"Good-evening, Aunt."