“He means you!” Sylvie whispered back. “Hush!”
“Be kind enough to move—angularly—to this corner,” the Professor said, addressing himself to Bruno.
Bruno hastily moved his chair in the direction indicated. “Did I move angrily enough?” he inquired. But the Professor was once more absorbed in his Lecture, which he was reading from his note-book.
“I will now explain the Process of—the name is blotted, I’m sorry to say. It will be illustrated by a number of—of——” here he examined the page for some time, and at last said “It seems to be either ‘Experiments’ or ‘Specimens’——”
“Let it be Experiments,” said the Emperor. “We’ve seen plenty of Specimens.”
“Certainly, certainly!” the Professor assented. “We will have some Experiments.”
“May I do them?” Bruno eagerly asked.
“Oh dear no!” The Professor looked dismayed. “I really don’t know what would happen if you did them!”
“Nor nobody doosn’t know what’ll happen if oo doos them!” Bruno retorted.
“Our First Experiment requires a Machine. It has two knobs—only two—you can count them, if you like.”