“Lord bless you!” Behrens answered, “she’d never think of it. In the first place, she’s too lazy, and in the second⁠—how could she? I can’t read Russian, though I can jabber it, after a fashion, when I have to, but I can’t read a word⁠—nor you either, I should suppose. And the puss can purr fast enough in French or in book German, but writing⁠—it would floor her altogether. Think of the spelling! No, my poor young friend, we’ll have to console each other. She always comes back again, sooner or later. Different people take it differently⁠—it’s a question of procedure, or of temperament. One goes off and keeps coming back, another stops long enough that he doesn’t need to come back. Just put it to your cousin that if he goes off now, you’re likely to be still here to see him return in state.”

“But Herr Hofrat, how long do you mean that I⁠—?”

“That you? You mean that he, don’t you? That he won’t stop as long a time below as he has been up here, that is what I mean, and so I tell you. That’s my humble opinion, and I lay it on you to tell him so from me, if you will be so kind as to undertake the commission.”