‘Yes. He cried a bit but he’s stopped now.’

Gurdweill sat down on a chair and began playing with his stick.

Thea said, ‘I’ve decided to go to my father’s when I come out of the hospital. It will be easier there at the beginning. Mother will help me until I’ve got my strength back. I’ve got leave for another three weeks. I’ll stay there for a week or two, as long as I think necessary. Father’s due for a visit at any minute, and I’ll talk to him about it. I can’t understand why he isn’t here yet. And then you can take the carriage and whatever else is necessary over there — I’ll tell you what later.’

Gurdweill did not say a word. He knew that it was the right thing to do, for a number of reasons, but he felt uneasy about it nevertheless. He couldn’t trust Thea to take her responsibilities seriously enough. He was afraid of what might happen to the baby if it was not under his constant supervision. But since he had no choice in the matter, he decided to make the best of it and spend as much time at Thea’s parents’ house as possible.

His father-in-law did not come, but Freddy came instead. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and stretched out his long legs, which reached right up to the next bed. During the entire visit he hardly opened his mouth, apart from asking his sister how she felt and how the ‘infant’ was doing. After that he sat and smiled to himself, as if contemplating some agreeable secret. From time to time he fixed his expressionless little eyes on Gurdweill, who was sitting opposite him, and tried to catch his eye, as if he wanted to remind him of something. Gurdweill, for some reason, found his brother-in-law’s looks disagreeable. He suddenly remembered the story about the cat, which the latter had told him some months before, and his thoughts jumped unconsciously to his son, Martin, who would soon be living under the same roof as Freddy. He shuddered in horror. But he immediately dismissed his vague dread as groundless and insubstantial. And in order to appear frank and fearless, and especially to banish his insubstantial fears from his own heart, he said to Thea, raising his voice so that her brother, too, would hear: ‘Your father will probably come tomorrow. And after you speak to him I’ll move the carriage and whatever else you need. You’re right, it will be better for you to spend a week at your parents’ place. Better for you and better for the baby!’