Small Souls Part 17

"A couple of houses farther on, there are two very nice little boys: you shall see them when you come in the summer, Adriaan."

"Yes, Grandmamma."

His voice sounded very refined and soft; and Constance had to smile.

But, while he sat there stiffly, with his shoulders squared and his legs close together, he was dividing the rooms of the house near the Woods.

Mamma, meanwhile, was exchanging toilsome words with Grandmamma. He portioned out the rooms. Downstairs, the drawing-room and the dining-room, more or less as at Uncle Gerrit's: those two rooms always communicated in Holland, with folding-doors between them. And the little conservatory. And the little garden was quite nice. Upstairs, the large room for Mamma and the smaller one for Papa; and it was jolly that he himself could have that sort of turret-room, with a bow-window, in between their two bedrooms. So he would be between Papa and Mamma. Above that, there was still a sort of attic floor, but that did not concern him: Mamma must manage that. It was rather risky perhaps, to go to that fat man to-morrow--a contractor, Papa called him--and tell him that Papa had sent him to say that he would take the house.... Perhaps that house in the something van Na.s.saustraat was better, bigger. But it was dearer also.... Perhaps Papa would be angry, if he acted just like that, off his own bat; but, of course, there would be nothing settled in black and white. Only, if Papa and Mamma once knew that he had been to the fat man, well, they might be a little angry at first, might squabble a bit more; and then both of them would look at him and laugh and they would take the house and everything would be all right.... If they did not decide a bit quicker, if they went on squabbling, their Brussels furniture would suddenly be there, in front of their noses, and they without a house to put it in.... It was true, Granny van Lowe had said, "Be careful about taking a house:" that was all very well when people agreed; but that's what Papa and Mamma never did. They had come to Holland, because he had said:

"Why, I'm a Dutch boy, aren't I? Then let's go!"

Well, they would take the house after he had been to the fat man. There was nothing else to be done, though it was risky.

Papa came downstairs with Grandpapa, looking more cheerful: perhaps he had been talking to his father. They sat on a little longer and Papa took out his watch once or twice....

Then the carriage drove up; the old coachman, who had known Papa as a small boy, drove them to the station, where they arrived twenty minutes too soon.

Quietly, without speaking, they walked up and down, waiting for the train....

CHAPTER XII

Next morning, Addie went to play with Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Adeline's children and thought it very jolly to romp about like that with six or seven little boy- and girl-cousins, the oldest a girl of eight years and the youngest a baby ten months old. He amused himself in a fatherly fas.h.i.+on with all these youngsters, inventing new games and causing a certain sensation as a big, new, strong cousin of thirteen. The whole morning, however, he was thinking of the fat man, to whom he had been very early to say that Papa would probably take the house and would like him to call at the Hotel des Indes at seven o'clock that evening. He had gone on to Uncle Gerrit's from there, and in his heart thought it rather a bore, for, after all, he must prepare Papa and Mamma for the visit of the fat man, who was to bring a draft of the lease with him. So, after eating a sandwich at Aunt Adeline's, he played a little longer with the children, who were not going out, because it was raining, and, soon after, hurried to the Alexanderstraat, to Granny van Lowe's, where he knew that he would find Mamma. Constance was sitting with her mother and telling her about Papa and Mamma van der Welcke and how they had received her. Uncle Paul was there. Addie, a little nervous, asked where Papa was, where Papa had gone that afternoon.

"Papa went to look at a couple of houses in the Na.s.sau-Dillenburgstraat.... Did you enjoy yourself at Uncle Gerrit's?"

"Oh, yes, they are nice little things. What are you doing this afternoon, Mamma?"

"I shall stay on a little with Granny and then we are both going to Uncle and Aunt Ruyvenaer's. Will you come too, Addie?"

"Well, I really want to talk to Papa."

She was jealous at once:

"You can never be a moment without your father. What does it mean? I haven't seen you the whole morning; and the first thing you do is to ask for Papa! I don't know where Papa is. Papa has an appointment, I believe, at the Witte Club, where he was to meet some old friends; but you can't go to the Witte!"

"Isn't Papa coming back to dinner at the hotel?"

"I believe Papa intended to stay and dine at the Witte. But I really don't know. I'm not in the habit of controlling Papa's movements."

He looked at her thoughtfully:

"I must absolutely see Papa before seven o'clock, Mamma."

"But why before seven o'clock? Is there anything you want? Won't I do?

Don't I count at all?"

"Yes," he said, "when you're not so cross. The owner of the house in the Kerkhoflaan, near the Woods, is coming to call before seven."

"How do you know?"

"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?"

"There are the two rooms opening into each other on the ground-floor,"

said Addie, standing, with a serious face, between Paul's knees.

"Upstairs, you can have the big bedroom and Papa the smaller one, with a little room next to it as a smoking-room; and then I should like that turret-room, with the bow-window, you know...."

"Yes; but, Addie, the house in the Emmastraat has bigger rooms."

"It is farther from Granny and two hundred guilders dearer; so put the house in the Emmastraat out of your mind...."

Granny van Lowe sat looking before her in dumb amazement; Paul listened attentively; and Constance and Addie continued to discuss the merits and demerits of the two houses:

"There's a big cellar in the house near the Woods ... and a nice little garden, do you remember?... And I think it jolly to be close to the Woods."

"Yes; but, Addie, it seems to me that, in the Emmastraat ..."

"Do put that house out of your mind, Mamma: it's damp...."

"And the contractor is coming, you say?"

"Yes, at seven o'clock."

Mamma van Lowe could only sit and stare at her daughter and her grandson by turns. Paul burst into a fresh roar of laughter at the sight of his mother's face.

"Yes, Mother, these are the times we live in! I never dared take a house for you; now did I?"

Constance for the first time appeared to realize that Addie must seem a little queer to her mother:

"Oh, he's always like that!" she said. "He helps us. He's a man. Aren't you, my man?..."