"It must work right!" he said aloud. "Didn't I go back five weeks with that future man? Didn't he——"
A fearful thought struck him. Had he perhaps made a mistake? Had they been cutting meridians the wrong way?
But no; the indicator could not be wrong, and that registered a constantly earlier date.
"Ah, I know!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I'll ask Cousin Phœbe."
He reflected a moment. Yes—the idea was a good one. She would be only fifteen years old by this time, and must certainly have changed to an extent of which he was at his age incapable. Besides, she had been asleep, and nervous insomnia could not be responsible for retarding the evidences of youth in her case. His agony of dread lest this great experiment fail made him bold.
He walked directly to Phœbe's door and knocked—first softly, then more loudly.
"Cousin Phœbe—Cousin Phœbe," he said.
After a few calls and knockings, there came a sleepy reply from within.
"Well—what—who is it?"
"It's Cousin Copernicus," he said. "Please tell me. Hev ye shrunk any yet?"