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Rh a daughter to Mamma; and I am very glad for Mamma’s sake.”

“Yes, I feel that, that you all tolerate me for Mamma’s sake. It is nice of you, but it is not quite what I should have wished.”

“But, Constance, all that will come later. I am convinced that soon you will feel no longer a stranger. But don’t be impatient; and let us get used to one another again. . . . And there is this too, that every one has his own interests in life; and it is a pity, but there is not always time to feel for another and to think of another. That is very strange, but it’s true. Just think, it is two months since you came back to Holland; and this is the first time that we have had a chance of talking to each other. I have only once been to see you at your house. And all this is not from heartlessness, but because one has no time.”

“Yes, Bertha, I know; and I am not reproaching you; and you’ve been very busy with the wedding. . . .”

“And, when it’s not a wedding, it’s something else. It is always like that, Constance. And sometimes I ask myself, why: why do we do it? Why have all this fuss, all this bustle, all this excitement? . . . There is a reason for it all: our children’s happiness lies in that direction. We do everything for our children, that’s what it comes to. Van Naghel’s being in the Cabinet, my giving dinners: the reason is always, though one doesn’t always realize it, for the children, for their happiness.