"You have only to read further to be convinced."
"But I thought you yourself never read recent history."
Nicolovius flung him a sharp look, which the young man, staring thoughtfully at the floor, missed. The old professor laughed.
"My dear boy! I read it on the lips of Major Brooke, I read it daily in the newspapers, I read it in such articles as your Colonel Cowles wrote about this very Reunion. I cannot get away from history in the making, if I would. Ah, there is the supper bell—I'm quite ready for it, too. Let us go down."
They went down arm in arm. On the stairs Nicolovius said: "These Southern manifestations interest me because, though extreme, they are after all so absurdly typical of human nature. I have even seen the same sort of thing in my own land."
Queed, though he knew the history of Ireland very well, could not recall any parallel to the United Confederate Veterans in the annals of that country. Still, a man capable of distorting history as Nicolovius distorted it could always find a parallel to anything anywhere.
When the meal was about half over, Queed said:—
"You slept badly last night, didn't you?"
"Yes—my old enemy. The attack soon passed. However, you may be sure that it is a comfort at such times to know that I am not alone."
"If you should need any—ahem—assistance, I assume that you will call me," said Queed, after a pause.