Page:Dr Adriaan (1918).djvu/188

182. . . And then, if sorrow comes, won't you be strong?"

Constance suddenly gave a sob:

"I shall be weak!"

"Auntie, Auntie, why are you so overwrought?"

"I shall be weak!"

"No, Auntie, you won't. And you mustn't be so frightened. There is nothing but love all around you . . . and they will all of them, all of them help you."

"I am frightened . . . and I shall be very weak. . . ."

"No, Auntie. . . . Oh, Auntie, do stop crying! . . . What are you afraid of? And what could happen now? . . . For whom are you afraid?"

"For Addie . . . for my boy . . . for Mathilde."

"But why, Auntie, why? . . . Oh, don't be so frightened! . . . Everything's all right between them . . . and Addie . . . Addie is so calm, so practical, so simple in his way of acting and thinking. . . ."

"Perhaps. . . . Oh, if he is only strong!"

"Isn't he always?"

"Perhaps he is. . . . Oh, my dear child, I am so frightened! . . ."

"Hush, Auntie, hush! . . . Don't cry any more. . . . Lie still, now; lie still in my arms. . . . Even if we have sorrow to go through, even if we have sad things to experience, even then you should remember that everything . . . that everything comes right again . . . in the end. . . . If we all have our share, why shouldn't they have theirs? . . . And perhaps—who knows?—your anxiety is exaggerated, Auntie . . . because you have been a little overwrought . . . lately."

"It may be that."