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Rh chap with a deep voice, who ruled his father with a rod of iron! Yes, Van der Welcke was simply ruled by him: there was no getting away from it! Suppose he wanted to stay and dine at the Witte that night: why the blazes shouldn't he? And he knew as sure as anything that he wouldn't! He would come home like a good little boy, because Addie had rather he did, because otherwise Addie would look upon it as a manifestation against Constance. . . She too was coming back, after Addie had written that it really wouldn't do, financially. She had run away like a madwoman, two months ago, after that pleasant business at the last Sunday-evening which they had spent at Mamma van Lowe's, after the furious scene which she had made him, Van der Welcke, because he wanted to hit their brother-inlaw, Van Naghel, in the face. Mind, it was for her, for his wife's sake, that he wanted to hit Van Naghel in the face. For her sake, because that pompous ass had dared to say that he wasn't keen on Constance calling on Bertha's at-home day. . . but that in other respects they were brothers and sisters! The disgusting snob! That old woman, that nonentity, that rotter, that twopenny-halfpenny cabinet-minister, who had got on simply because old Van Lowe, in his day, had kicked him upstairs step by step! . . . Van der Welcke was still furious when he thought of the fellow, with his smooth face and his namby-pamby speeches. He hadn't been able to