Don’t you understand, don’t you understand,’ I said to him, ‘that unhappiness is just as necessary to man as happiness.’ Il rit. ‘All you do is to make a bon mot ,’ he said, ‘with your limbs snug on a velvet sofa.’⁠ ⁠… (He used a coarser expression.) And this habit of addressing a father so familiarly is very nice when father and son are on good terms, but what do you think of it when they are abusing one another?”

We were silent again for a minute.

“ Cher ,” he concluded at last, getting up quickly, “do you know this is bound to end in something?”

“Of course,” said I.