And furthermore he felt that it had been superfluous for the Hofrat to advise him, on account of his anaemia, to live during his stay here as the patients did. For, it appeared, this followed of itself; no other course seemed possible. This was perhaps partly the fruit of his nephew’s calm and invulnerable self-assurance; perhaps it was not absolutely the only and inevitable course to pursue⁠—but how was a man of his breeding to distinguish? Nothing could be clearer than that the abundant second breakfast should follow upon the rest period, after which the stroll down to the Platz appeared the natural and inevitable sequence⁠—and then Hans Castorp did his uncle up again. He did him up⁠—the right phrase for it⁠—and there, in the autumn sunlight, in a chair whose qualities should be sung rather than spoken, he let him lie, until a clanging gong summoned the patients to the midday meal. So lavish was it, so altogether tip-top and first-rate, that the main rest period which ensued seemed an inward necessity rather than an outward conformity, and James participated in it with the sincerest personal conviction. And so on until the mighty supper and the social evening in the salon with the optical diversions.