They finished their meal. Herr Diederich sat blinking in the sun, his
coat flung wide open over his white waistcoat, and he and his son took
out their short pipes. Tom smoked his cigarettes, and the young people
began a lively conversation, the subject of which was their old school
and all the old school recollections. Tony took part gaily. They quoted
Herr Stengel: “What! You were to make a line, and what are you making?
A dash!” What a pity Christian was not here! he could imitate him so
much better.
Once Tom pointed to the flowers at Tony’s place and said to his sister:
“That trims things up uncommonly well, as Herr Grünlich would say!”
Whereat Tony, red with anger, gave him a push and darted an embarrassed
glance at young Schwarzkopf.
The coffee-hour had been unusually late, and they had prolonged it. It
was already half-past six, and twilight was beginning to descend over
the Prival, when the captain got up.
“The company will excuse me,” he said; “I’ve some work down at the
pilot-house. We’ll have supper at eight o’clock, if that suits the
young folk. Or even a little later to-night, eh, Meta? And you” (here
he used his son’s name again), “don’t be lolling about here. Just go
and dig up your bones again. Fräulein Buddenbrook will want to unpack.
Or perhaps the guests would like to go down on the beach. Only don’t
get in the way.”
“Diederich, for pity’s sake, why shouldn’t he sit still a bit?” Frau
Schwarzkopf said, with mild reproach. “And if our guests like to go
down on the beach, why shouldn’t he go along? Is he to see nothing at
all of our visitors?”
CHAPTER VI
In her neat little room with the flower-covered furniture, Tony woke
next morning with the fresh, happy feeling which one has at the
beginning of a new chapter. She sat up in bed and, with her hands
clasped round her knees and her tousled head flung back, blinked at the
stream of light that poured through the closed shutters into the room.
She began to sort out the experiences of the previous day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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