BUDDENBROOKS
the party to break up—for Gerda Buddenbrook must rest. The old Frau Consul, Tony, Erica, and Mamsell Jugmann are the last to go.
“Well, Ida,” says the Consul, “I have been thinking it over: you took care of us all, and when little Johann gets a bit older—He still has the monthly nurse now, and after that he will still need a day-nurse, I suppose—but will you be willing to move over to us when the time comes?”
“Yes, indeed, Herr Consul, if your wife is satisfied.”
Gerda is content to have it so, and thus it is settled.
In the act of leaving, however, and already at the door, Frau Permaneder turns. She comes back to her brother and kisses him on both cheeks, and says: “It has been a lovely day, Tom. I am happier than I have been for years. We Buddenbrooks aren’t quite at the last gasp yet, thank God, and whoever thinks we are is mightily mistaken. Now that we have little Johann—it is so beautiful that he is christened Johann—it looks to me as if quite a new day will dawn for us all!”
