As he often does, when he's trying to understand Susan, Laertes thinks of what would make his father respond to good tidings only with hope rather than relief. She doesn't want to be relieved, he realizes; she wants to be useful. She wants something important to fix or to solve. With no clear purpose before her, she's at loose ends, and she mislikes it. "Lancelot told me," says Laertes deliberately, "that thou art making plans for a tourney."