“Why? Because the eaglets have learned to fly, and they have to make their own nests, and from here they will fly each in a different direction⁠—”

“What nonsense!” said Sónya, taking his glass from him, and smiling at him, as she smiled at everything. “The old nest is good enough!”

“The old nest is a sad nest; the old man did not know how to make it⁠—he was caught in a cage, and in the cage he reared his young ones, and was let out only when his wings no longer would hold him up. No, the eaglets must make their nests higher up, more auspiciously, nearer to the sun; that is what they are his children for, that his example might serve them; but the old one will look on, so long as he is not blind, and will listen, when he becomes blind⁠—Pour in some rum, more, more⁠—enough!”