“Ah!” she cried. “Look at that water, mevrouw! Ser-per-len-did!”
Mrs. van Oudijck looked on. She gave her most charming smile and then said, in her gentle voice:
“That stone is not real, dear mevrouw.”
“Not real?” screamed Mrs. van Does. “Not real?”
Mrs. van Oudijck looked at the other stones:
“And those others, mevrouw,” stooping attentively: then, in her most charming tones, “those others ... they too are paste.”
Mrs. van Does looked at her with delight. Then she said to Doddie and Theo, archly:
“That mamma of yours ... oh, so shrewd! She sees at once!”
And she laughed aloud. They all laughed. Mrs. van Does returned the stones to the bottle:
“A joke, yes, mevrouw? I only wanted to see if you understood. I give you my word, of course: I should never have sold them to you.... But there ... look!...”