Gurdweill moved over to the couch and lay flat on his back, as he always did before going to sleep. The nocturnal silence enveloped him like something tangible. Thea was already sleeping. Gurdweill felt a mild, agreeable tingling in his limbs, as after a lukewarm bath, and a vein pulsed secretly and sluggishly somewhere in his body. It was difficult to determine the exact place where this vein began: if he listened to his leg, it pulsed in his leg; if he listened to his head, it pulsed in his head, very slowly and apparently without meaning any harm. ‘Well,’ thought Gurdweill, ‘you can’t worry about that now if you want to go to sleep … But who said that you want to go to sleep? There’s plenty of time for sleeping. Tomorrow is another day! And what about that other thing inside you, that special, happy thing that’s there too. It’s a pity you can’t remember now exactly what it is …’ It must be very late. Ages ago, an eternity ago, it was midnight! No, he wasn’t going to look at his watch now: too much work. To get up, strike a match — no! But if some clock should take it into its head to strike the hour, for example! Never mind, it made no difference. The main thing was, that there was a point of happiness somewhere inside him. He had no desire to know exactly what it was. Over there, for example, on the left (where the bed stood), everything was fine. No complaints in that quarter — on the contrary, this evening had really been a peaceful, contented one … Little things didn’t count! No need to pay any attention to them.

‘What about “seducing a little boy”, for example?’ asked someone inside him.

‘It doesn’t mean a thing. A slip of the tongue, not worth considering,’ replied Gurdweill nonchalantly. ‘There are more important things, and we don’t take any notice of them either …’

‘Exactly what I wanted to ask. Why don’t we take any notice of them?’

‘It’s late.’ Gurdweill tried to evade the issue. ‘Time to go to sleep.’

But the other refused to be silenced. ‘But we already decided before that tomorrow’s a holiday, and we can sleep as late as we like, if only they let us …’

‘Who won’t let us?’ Gurdweill fell into the trap.

‘They won’t let us,’ replied the other without elaborating. ‘You’re a clever chap, when you want to be. Do you really want me to name names? You know very well who …’

‘Nonsense!’ said Gurdweill dismissively. ‘What kind of nonsense is that? You know very well that nobody tells me what to do.’

‘Come, come!’ The second smiled ironically. ‘That’s not exactly so! There’s room for doubt there.’