“Pre‑cisely,” shouted Settembrini. “I fled with my flag. Ah, what an apt phrase! I see I have come to the right place; nobody else here knows how to coin phrases like that.⁠—May I be permitted to inquire after the state of your health, Frau Stöhr?”

It was frightful to see Frau Stöhr preen herself.

“Good land!” she said. “It is always the same, you know yourself: two steps forward and three back. When you have been sitting here five months, along comes the old man and tucks on another six. It is like the torment of Tantalus: you shove and shove, and think you are getting to the top⁠—”

“Ah, how delightful of you, to give poor old Tantalus a new job, and let him roll the stone uphill for a change! I call that true benevolence.⁠—But what are these mysterious reports I have been hearing of you, Frau Stöhr? There are tales going about⁠—tales about doubles, astral bodies, and the like. Up to now I have lent them no credence⁠—but this latest story puzzles me, I confess.”