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70 “So your girl is going to be married soon, Adolphine?”

“In May.”

“I haven’t seen either of them since Sunday. A couple of days ago, I found their cards and Dijkerhof’s. How quickly a week passes! I didn’t find any of you at home either.”

“We are so busy shopping all day long, for the trousseau.”

“Is Dijkerhof a nice fellow?”

“Yes; and they are a very good family.”

As it happened, the Dijkerhofs were not in quite the same set as the Van Lowes; and Mamma van Lowe was not over-enthusiastic about the engagement.

Constance was silent: she was tired, she had a headache and she thought that Adolphine had better keep the conversation going. But Adolphine was too much distracted by the bolero to be in form. She cast about for a subject. And yet there were plenty, for she was dying of curiosity to know all sorts of things: for instance, what Constance thought of Bertha and Cateau. If only that wretched bolero were not there! At last, she began:

“So you’re looking for a house?”

Constance answered at random; and, because of her headache, her expression became stiff and haughty and her lips were tightly compressed. Adolphine thought her arrogant and reflected that Constance had always been stuck-up, after her marriage to De Staffelaer and all the smart society in