"Yes," said Constance, grudgingly.
Karel and Cateau looked at Adriaan. The boy stood bolt upright before them, a strikingly handsome lad: he certainly resembled his father; he had Van der Welcke's regular features, his round head, his short, soft, curly hair. At thirteen, an age when other boys are overgrown, gawky and clumsy in their ways, he was not tall, but well-proportioned and rather broadly built, with a pair of square shoulders in his blue serge jacket, with something about his gestures and movements that denoted a certain manliness and self-possession, uncommon in so young a boy. He tried to be polite, but could not conceal a certain mistrust of this unknown uncle and aunt. His small mouth was firmly closed; his eyes stared fixedly, dark-blue, serious and cold.
Constance made her sister-in-law and brother sit down:
"Forgive all this muddle," she said with a laugh. "I was taking advantage of the rainy day to arrange my trunks a bit."
Cateau gave a sharp glance round: there were dresses hanging over the chairs and from the pegs; a couple of hats lay on a table.
"Oh, Con-stance!" said Cateau; and she felt a little impertinent at saying, "Constance," just like that—she had married Karel after Constance' marriage to De Staffelaer and this was only the second time that she had seen her sister-in-law—and had it on her lips to say, "Mevrouw," instead. "Oh, Con-stance, what a lot of clothes you have!"
"Do you think so? Things get so spoilt in one's trunks."
"I haven't as many dress-es as that, have I, Ka-rel? But what I have is re-ally good. But yours are good, too, Con-stance. I like re-ally good clothes.... Only, such a lot of lace would fid-get me.... Bertha dresses well, too.... But Adolph-ine.... Oh, what a sight she al-ways looks!"
"Does she?" asked Constance. "But she has to consider the cost of things, hasn't she?"
"I have only two dress-es every year; but those are re-ally good."