“Say it once more, like a darling.”

“I—am—not—cross. There: are you satisfied?”

“Yes, I believe you now. And when am I coming to dinner?”

“You little tyrant!”

“I daren’t ask myself again.”

“What do you like so much in our dinners?”

“They’re just what I do like. The other night, when I was so bored at the Court ball, I thought, ‘So long as Auntie asks me again soon, I don’t mind anything!’”

“Rubbish! I don’t believe a word of it!”

“It’s quite true.”

“Well, will you come one evening ... with Brauws and Van Vreeswijck? Then I’ll ask Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Adeline too.”