“No doubt. About lighting the town.”
“O yes. If my memory serves me, you are referring to the lighting plan of Doctor Ox.”
“Precisely.”
“It is going on, Niklausse,” replied the burgomaster. “They are already laying the pipes, and the works are entirely completed.”
“Perhaps we have hurried a little in this matter,” said the counsellor, shaking his head.
“Perhaps. But our excuse is, that Doctor Ox bears the whole expense of his experiment. It will not cost us a sou.”
“That, true enough, is our excuse. Moreover, we must advance with the age. If the experiment succeeds, Quiquendone will be the first town in Flanders to be lighted with the oxy—What is the gas called?”
“Oxyhydric gas.”
“Well, oxyhydric gas, then.”
At this moment the door opened, and Lotchè came in to tell the burgomaster that his supper was ready.