“There are the Baron and the Baroness coming down the road,” interposed Ursula, watching her father’s flushed face.
“Where? Show me, Ursula,” cried Mopius, bounding to the window.
She laughed. “I do believe they are coming here!” she cried. “You will have to meet them now, Uncle Jacóbus.”
“I have no objection to meeting them,” replied Jacóbus, red and important. “I was going to ask them, of course, to my party. I have no objection to the aristocracy as such.”
A moment later he was bowing and smiling—bowing what he considered an eighteenth-century bow. And the Baron was expressing his delight at making the acquaintance of Ursula’s uncle, “of whom he had heard so much.” Furthermore, Mynheer van Helmont spoke with admiration of Mynheer Mopius’s villa, upon which Mynheer Mopius replied, in the kindest manner possible, that it was very nice, but not as fine as the Horst. He also proffered his invitation on the spot, and the Baroness, smiling elaborately, accepted it, as in duty bound. It was some time before her courteous husband consented to catch her eye, and then she immediately arose. In those few minutes the retired attorney had twice called Mynheer van Helmont “Baron,” and several other atrocious things had occurred. “How small she is! She needn’t look so bumptious!” thought Mopius, as the little lady shook hands. He was telling her how there would be dancing at his party, and he poked Josine in the ribs. “In my young days out at Batavia,” he said, “I used frequently to dance with the Governor-General’s lady. I dare say, Baron, you remember Steelenaar, a good Viceroy in his day?” He hoped for the honor of the opening polonaise with her ladyship.
“My dancing days are over, Mynheer,” said the Baroness, stiffly. “I doubt whether I should be able to acquit myself properly. Things have changed so much in society since my youth.”
“Ah, there you are right, Mevrouw,” replied Jacóbus Mopius with fervor. “Now, at the Drum Casino, nowadays—I am an old member—you meet people who, in your time, would not have dared to appear at a public performance.”
“I do not doubt it,” replied the Baroness, taking leave.
Husband and wife proceeded leisurely homeward. Presently the Baron said,
“My dear, I cannot understand your caring so much. Surely Mynheer Mopius is only a continuation of Juffrouw Josine.”