Chapter 8
Along the road, Elmien picked up Frans. Around six o’clock they arrived at the yard. Willa and Paul de Moreaux sit in front of the door on the lawn under the large gazebo with its bright green leaves. They wave to Elmien and walk towards her.
“You have been away for a long time,” Willa calls out to her sister. “Have we?” she asks, laughing. “I am not aware of time.”
“And look at your dress!”
“Oh,” Elmien only notices it now. “It is the bushes,” she says, “the lovely bushes.”
She jumps off the horse and throws the reins to Frans.
“Thank you, Frans,” she says heartily, “it was a delightful afternoon.”
“It sounds like it,” says Willa dryly. “And since when has Frans become the provider of pleasant afternoons?”
“You are wrong, my sister,” Elmien replies cheerfully. “In Klein-
