Van Rijn:
"'...I am thirty years your senior, Davy boy, and even if I got long-life chromosomes and lots of good antisenescence treatment, still, in the end a fellow gets tired. I will not do much.'" (pp. 17-18)
That is explicit. Age slows down van Rijn.
Later, he concedes a point to Eric:
"Suddenly van Rijn looked shrunken. 'No,' he whispered.
"He's old, passed through Eric, weary, and, here at last, forsaken. He wanted to clasp the bent shoulders." (XIV, p. 202)
When Sandra meets him:
"Why, he's old, Sandra knew..." (XIX, p. 253)
However:
"And then van Rijn, damn his sooty heart, refused to be pitiable but grabbed her hand, bestowed a splashing kiss upon it, and pumped it as if she expected water to gush from her mouth. 'Good day, good day,' he bawled..." (XIX, p. 254)
Best of all is his invitation to Sandra:
"'You take the Long Trail with me!'" (XXI, p. 287)
- which we have quoted before.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I like that bit, where we see Eric Tamarin showing what I can only consider filial compassion to his elderly father.
And I love that scene where Old Nick flatly refused to be pitiable!
A pity we never see anything about that last long journey of exploration by Nicholas van Rijn somewhere between five and ten years after MIRKHEIM. And did Grand Duchess Sandra abdicate in favor of her son so she could go with Old Nick?
Ad astra! Sean
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