Dusk descended, and the snowflakes grew increasingly invisible. Inside the room, the darkness gathered and turned into a thick mass, swallowing up the couch and everything around it. Only on the table did the empty cup and the little pile of broken china still gleam palely. Mechanically Gurdweill turned away from the window and went back to sit on the couch. His hat was still on his head. He had not eaten anything all day, and although he did not actually feel hungry, something gnawed at him incessantly, as though his insides were being squeezed by an invisible hand. It crossed his mind that he should eat something, but he immediately forgot about it again. And once more he was overcome by the same catatonic stupor as before, and he sat without moving in the dark, his head hanging and his chin resting on his chest. Perhaps Thea would come and want something to eat, he thought hazily, she would be angry and scold him, but he didn’t care anymore. He would go away … There was nothing for him to do here any longer. He would go tomorrow, or the day after, or some other day. If only he knew where to go! There was no one in the world to whom he could go. But what difference did it make? There was one thing he had to do first — that was clear. A pity he had forgotten what he had to do before he left. His head was so heavy, he couldn’t get half a thought out of it. How awful Dr Astel’s scream had been … bursting out of him so unexpectedly and for no reason — No! That wasn’t true! There may have been a reason after all! He himself had once known the reason clearly; how strange that he had been so quick to forget it … His memory had begun to fail him lately … Once he had had a good memory, just like … like who again? Oh, yes! Like Dr Kreindel, who knew all those quotations by heart … Gurdweill smiled to himself in the dark. It was a good thing that he didn’t have to work for that Dr Kreindel any longer! For him a man had to have a memory like a gramophone record, otherwise he didn’t count … Well, thank God, he was going to Italy soon and he didn’t need Dr Kreindel anymore. It was strange, though, that Lotte was taking so long; it was hard waiting all this time … Well, never mind! He could pack his things in the meantime!