The Later Life Part 13

"Mevrouw," he said, suddenly, overcoming his bashfulness, "I hope you were not angry that I was so ungracious yesterday?..."

"But you weren't at all ungracious."

"Yes, I was, very. But what excuse can I make? I have lost the habit ... of just talking...."

She smiled:

"To ladies," she said, jokingly.

"Yes, about nothing ... you know ... small talk...."

"You really needn't apologize, Mr. Brauws. You had already said so many delightful things last night that I can quite understand...."

"Yes, but I have said nothing this morning and...."

"You wouldn't know what to say ... about nothing. But please don't trouble ... and make yourself at home. Henri will be down in a minute; he is very worried at not being ready."

In fact, they heard Van der Welcke upstairs, dressing excitedly; he was rushing madly round his room and shouting:

"Addie! Addie! Pick me out a tie! Do be quick, boy!"

And Constance rose to go. Brauws stopped her:

"Mevrouw," he said, hurriedly, "Hans asked me to dinner."

"And you refused...."

"Well, you see, I'm such a bear. Don't be angry and don't let Hans be angry either and let me come and dine with you one day."

"So you're inviting yourself?"

"Yes."

"Very well; we shall be delighted to see you. When will you come?"

"Whenever you like."

"To-morrow?"

"With great pleasure."

"Would you rather come alone, or shall I ask Van Vreeswijck to meet you?"

"Yes, certainly, Van Vreeswijck...."

"And n.o.body else."

"No, n.o.body. But I mustn't dictate to you."

"Why shouldn't you, in this case?"

Van der Welcke came rushing down the stairs, followed by Addie:

"This is jolly of you, Max! Let's have a look at the old machine. She's a first-rater! And here's my boy.... Addie, eat a bit of bread and b.u.t.ter, quick; then we'll drop you at your school."

Addie laughed, quietly ate his bread and b.u.t.ter without sitting down:

"I've lots of time," he said.

"So much the better ... we'll drive you round a bit first. Quick, quick! Take your bread and b.u.t.ter with you in your hand!"

He rushed like a madman through the dining-room and hall, hunted for his hat, couldn't find it, shouted up the stairs, made Truitje look all over the place for his gloves, created a breezy draught all through the house. At last, he was ready:

"If only I can manage the old sewing-machine! ... Tock-tock-tock-tock, tock-tock-tock-tock!... Good-bye, Constance...."

He shoved Addie in front of him, made him get into the car, settled himself:

"We're off, Brauws!"

"Good-bye, mevrouw. Till to-morrow then!"

He ran out. Constance looked out of the window: they drove off, with Addie between them, waving his hand to her, while Brauws was showing Van der Welcke--much too quick, too wild, too impatient--how to work the "sewing-machine" and obviously asking him to be careful....

CHAPTER X

Constance had invited Van Vreeswijck at the last moment and he was engaged, so that Brauws was the only guest. Though Constance usually gave a deal of thought to her little dinners, she received Brauws quite simply, treating him as one of themselves; and Addie dined with them.

"And now tell me what you have been doing all these years?" asked Van der Welcke.

Brauws tried to tell him, but kept on hesitating, as though under a strange compulsion. His father was a manufacturer, owning big iron-works in Overijssel, and still carried on that huge business with Brauws' two elder brothers, who were married to two sisters, the daughters of another manufacturer, owning a cotton-mill in the same district. But Max, who had been a queer boy from a child, had from a child felt repelled by all that factory-life of masters and men, as he saw it around him; and his father, recognizing his exceptional intelligence, had sent him to college, hoping that in this way he would carve out an honourable career for himself among his fellow-men. Max was fond of study and studied long and hard, for the sake of study. At Leiden, he became acquainted with Van Vreeswijck, Van der Welcke and other young sprigs of the aristocracy, who would gladly have admitted him to their club, putting up with him because he had plenty of money to spend and because he was clever and it amused him to help them in their examinations. Van der Welcke and Van Vreeswijck had learnt to value his friendship, but nevertheless lost sight of him afterwards, thinking that he had joined his brothers after all and was managing the factory with them. And, even as they, as youths, had hardly known their friend more than superficially, so they did not know, on leaving Leiden, that Max had not gone to Overijssel--where his father would have liked to marry him to the third daughter of the father-in-law of his two other sons--but to America, to "seek."

"Well, but to seek what?" Van der Welcke asked, failing to understand what a rich youth could want to seek in America, if he did not see some idea, some plan, some object plainly outlined before him.

Brauws now confessed that at the time he scarcely knew what he had gone to seek, in America. He admitted that his father, the iron-master, had hoped that Max would form industrial connections in America which would have benefited the factory. But Max had formed no connections at all.

"Then what did you do?" asked Van der Welcke.

And Brauws smiled his strange, gentle smile, in which there gleamed a touch of irony and compa.s.sion--with himself, or the world, or both--a smile which sometimes broke into his big, resonant laugh. He smiled and at last said, very slowly:

"But I hardly dare confess to you, my dear Hans, what I did in America. I don't talk about that time as a rule, because it all sounds so strange, now that I am sitting at table with you and your wife and your son. Perhaps, if I tell you what I did do in America, Mrs. van der Welcke, after the first shock of surprise, will shudder at having invited such a queer person to her table and probably think me a very bad example for Addie. So don't let's talk about myself or what I did in America."

But Van der Welcke had grown inquisitive:

"No, my dear fellow, you sha'n't get out of it like that. I can't imagine that you did anything in America that Addie mustn't hear about; and in any case he needn't take you for his model. But I'm burning with curiosity and I insist on knowing what you were up to in America. Not lecturing on Peace all the time?..."