Every single Saturday, I believe,—all the summer through.
You said I was the swan that drew your boat.
Did I say so? Yes, I daresay I did. [Absorbed in the game.] Just see how the sea-gulls are swimming down the stream!
[Laughing.] And all your ships have run ashore.
[Throwing more leaves into the brook.] I have ships enough in reserve. [Follows the leaves with his eyes, throws more into the brook, and says after a pause.] Irene,—I have bought the little peasant hut beside the Lake of Taunitz.
Have you bought it? You often said you would, if you could afford it.
The day came when I could afford it easily enough; and so I bought it.
[With a sidelong look at him.] Then do you live out there now—in our old house?
No, I have had it pulled down long ago. And I have built myself a great, handsome, comfortable villa on the site—with a park around it. It is there that we— [Stops and corrects himself.] —there that I usually live during the summer.
[Mastering herself.] So you and—and the other one live out there now?