Page:Later Life (1919).djvu/71

Rh "You must come and dine one day, to meet Vreeswijck," said Van der Welcke.

Brauws' smile disappeared suddenly:

"No, my dear fellow, honestly . . ."

"Why not?"

"I'm not the man for dinners."

"It won't be a dinner. Only Vreeswijck. My wife will be very pleased."

"Yes, but I shall be putting your wife out . . ."

"Not a bit. I'll see if she's at home and introduce you to her."

"No, my dear fellow, no, honestly . . . I'm no ladies' man. I'm nothing of a drawing-room person. I never know what to say."

"You surely haven't grown shy!"

"Yes, almost. With ladies . . . I really don't know what to say. No, old chap, honestly. . . ."

His voice was full of anxious dismay.

"I think it's mean of you, to refuse to come and dine with us, quite quietly."

"Yes . . . and then it'll be a dinner of twenty people. I know."

"I shouldn't know where to get them from. We see nobody. Nobody."

"No, no . . . Well, yes, perhaps later."

He raised his hand deprecatingly, almost impatiently:

"Come," he said, "let's go for a walk."