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Rh her hands, limp her arms, with poor Aunt Adeline beside her, quite cheered and receiving a short letter from Guy, while the girls and Aunt Constance put Grannie to bed and then Klaasje, that great big girl, who still always insisted on being taken to bed. . . and while Uncle Ernst wandered round the pond, talking to himself. . . and while Paul had not shown himself for three days, locking himself in his room, in the villa over there, lower down. . ..

That was how she recovered, as if waking from a hideous dream; that was how she came to herself, in the evening, sitting in the garden with Aunt Adeline, reading and rereading Guy's letter, beside her. And a little further away sat Mr. Brauws and Uncle Henri: Uncle Henri who could not get used to Guy's absence. . . and who fretted over it sometimes, with the tears standing wet in his eyes.