Read Online Eline Vere by Louis Couperus - Free Book Online

but things are so difficult sometimes that I get very miserable. Then I wish I could let off some steam to good friend, which I can’t do with my husband, obviously.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Well, he has enough troubles of his own. He’s not at all well, you know, and he’s losing his patience–’
    â€˜But Jeanne, I can’t think what could have changed between us.’
    â€˜Perhaps I’m just imagining things. But we used to spend more time together in the old days. You move in completely different circles now, you go out a good deal, while I . . . well, we seem to have become sort of estranged.’
    â€˜We didn’t see each other for four years, after all.’
    â€˜But we wrote letters.’
    â€˜Three or four letters a year isn’t much, you know! It’s only to be expected that one’s ideas change as one grows older and one’s circumstances change, surely. And I’ve had my share of worries, too. First there was dear Papa, and then poor Aunt Vere, whom I attended during her final illness.’
    â€˜Are you happy here, do you and Betsy get on all right?’
    â€˜Oh yes, very well, otherwise I wouldn’t have moved in with her, would I?’
    Eline, with characteristic reserve, had no desire to go into detail.
    â€˜You see! You have nothing to fret about at all,’ Jeanne pursued. ‘You are free and independent, your own mistress to do as you please, whereas I – I am in a completely different situation.’
    â€˜But that doesn’t mean to say we’ve become estranged, does it? For one thing, estranged has a disagreeable sound to it, and for another, it’s simply not true, whichever way you put it.’
    â€˜I’m afraid it is.’
    â€˜No, it’s not, I assure you. My dear Jeanne, if I can be of service to you in any way, just tell me. I promise I’ll do what I can. I wish you’d believe me.’
    â€˜I do, and thank you for your kind promise. But Eline, I wanted to take this opportunity . . .’
    â€˜Now?’
    Jeanne was framing questions in her mind: How are you, really? Tell me more about yourself, so that I may get to know you the way you are now! But seeing the polite smile on Eline’s pretty lips and the dreamy look in her almond eyes, Jeanne said nothing. Suddenly she regretted having spoken so candidly to the coquettish young creature opening and closing her feather fan. Oh, why had she spoken to her at all? They were worlds apart.
    â€˜Now?’ repeated Eline, despite her reluctance to hear what Jeanne had to say.
    â€˜Some other time, then, when we have more privacy . . .’ stammered Jeanne, and she rose to her feet. She was annoyed, mostly with herself, and on the brink of tears after the unpleasant dinner followed by this fruitless exchange with Eline. Just then Betsy and Emilie emerged from the boudoir.
    Jeanne said it was time they went home. The three men soon appeared, and Henk helped Jeanne into her long overcoat. Forcing herself to smile amiably, she bade them goodbye, reiterating how kind Betsy had been to invite her and her husband to this intimate gathering, and again feeling a pang of annoyance when Eline kissed her on both cheeks.
    â€˜That Jeanne is such a bore!’ said Betsy when the Ferelijns had gone. ‘She hardly said a word all evening. What on earth were you talking to her about just now, Eline?’
    â€˜Oh, about little Dora, and about her husband . . . nothing in particular.’
    â€˜Poor Jeanne!’ said Emilie with feeling. ‘Come, Georges, could you get me my cloak?’
    But before he could do so Mina came in with the ladies’ outer garments, so De Woude went off to don his Ulster greatcoat, leaving Henk to rub his large hands with pleasure at the prospect of staying in after his copious dinner. The carriage had been waiting for the past half hour in the thawing snow, with Dirk the coachman and Herman the