With tremendous pleasure he sucked on his pipe. The warm smoke of the cheap tobacco, which burned his tongue and tickled his tonsils, seemed perfectly delicious to him. As if avid for even greater pleasure, he placed the stem of his pipe next to his nostrils and breathed in the bitter, pungent smell of the nicotine as if it were some reviving scent.

To be perfectly honest, he went on musing, he really had nothing to complain about. On the contrary: he had plenty of reasons to be very well satisfied. What more could he ask for? Even his work had been going well recently. Yes, you could say it was bearing fruit. True, he was still very far from perfection. Of that he was well aware. But nevertheless! He hoped that he was now on the right path. The main thing, in the final analysis, was to express himself and his world honestly, in the simplest, most immediate, and most direct way possible. He felt quite clearly that he was making great strides towards this goal — and what else could he want? And now it was a holiday too! The afternoon free, and the whole of tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow too!

‘You’d better begin making dinner, rabbit!’ said Thea.

Gurdweill glanced at his watch. ‘But it’s still early — only seven o’clock. Perhaps we could wait an hour? Of course,’ he immediately retracted, ‘if you’re hungry, we can eat now.’