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122 “I went to him this morning, on my way to Uncle Gerrit’s.”

“Well?”

“And I told him Papa would probably take the house and asked him to come to the hotel, at seven o’clock, and bring a draft of the lease with him.”

He suddenly became very uncomfortable, because his grandmother and his uncle sat staring at him.

“But, Addie,” said Granny van Lowe, not quite understanding, “how did you come to do that? Did Papa tell you to go?”

“No, Granny, Papa said nothing about it, but it’s a very nice house indeed; and, if Papa and Mamma could only agree, I wouldn’t interfere; but, as it is, I really must. Otherwise the furniture will be here from Brussels and Papa and Mamma still looking for a house, each in a different part of the town.”

He talked fluently, but he was very uncomfortable and his face was as red as fire, for it was plain that Granny did not yet understand; and Uncle Paul sat shaking with laughter and trying to pull him between his knees; and this was no moment for romping.

“Oh, don’t, Uncle Paul, please! . . .”

But Paul laughed and shook him by the shoulders; and Grandmamma frowned; and yet it was really very simple; and Mamma thought so too, for she said, calmly:

“Oh, you went to that house, did you? . . . The one near the Woods. . . . How many rooms did we say there were?”