‘Idiot! Did I have to tell you? Christmas comes once a year and he doesn’t know for himself that he should buy something decent! Go down right away and get some pork chops! And a little bottle of brandy too. And hurry up about it!’

Unwillingly Gurdweill went out again. ‘We could really have done without the pork chops,’ he thought. His shoes were worn away at the heels, and although they did not yet let in the water, he had a constant feeling of dampness in his feet, perhaps because of the cold, and it seemed to him that he was trudging barefoot in the wet, dirty snow. If there was one thing he hated, it was leaky shoes. ‘Damp feet,’ he was in the habit of saying, ‘are the source of all illness. First of all — see to your shoes! Torn trousers don’t let in the water, but shoes are another story!’ But he had not yet had time to go to Vrubiczek to get his heels mended. It was only yesterday that he had discovered they needed repairing.

When he got back to the room he sat down immediately to take off his shoes. No, his feet were not in the least damp. He pulled a chair up to the stove and sat down with the soles of his feet against the smooth warm tiles.

‘You’re already warming your feet like an old man,’ mocked Thea, who was only now about to take off her hat. ‘Perhaps you’d like me to get you a hot water bottle too?’

‘It wouldn’t do any harm,’ he joked. ‘They’re cold as ice.’

Little by little a pleasant warmth filled the room. Because of the green shade, the dim light diffused by the oil lamp was directed downwards, leaving the upper half of the room in semi-darkness except for a glowing orange circle on the ceiling directly above the lamp.

Thea took off her coat, threw it anyhow onto the couch, came to stand next to the stove, and lit herself another cigarette.

‘Do you want one, rabbit?’ She offered the box to her husband.

Gurdweill put the cigarette into his mouth. Another eight months, he thought joyfully, or perhaps only seven. You could never tell exactly. And then he would be here, his own flesh and blood, a new little human being … He looked at Thea’s belly as if it were already possible to see something there.