“Of the climate?” repeated Zuidhoorn still more puzzled.
“Yes! yes! you see, when we Europeans are forced to live in the tropics for any considerable time, then, in some cases, nervous debility begins to set in, frequently accompanied by weakening or softening of the brain—”
“My dear sir,” cried Zuidhoorn, “your hints—”
“Are not in the least applicable to you! My dear Zuidhoorn, I know that as well as you do; but pray let me finish what I was going to say. Some men, I observed, begin to suffer from debility and impaired brain-power—others grow nervous, excitable, irritable—”
“Chief Justice!” cried Zuidhoorn, “is that the case with me?”
“As a rule,” continued the other without noticing the interruption, “as a rule the patient is, in such cases, wholly unconscious of his condition; and is under the impression that he continues to speak and act precisely as he was always wont to do.”
“Is such the case with me?” again asked Zuidhoorn, repeating his question.
“Well, yes, my dear colleague, I am sorry to say that, to a certain extent, it is. You yourself are not aware of it, of course: but yet to your friends the style in which you write has, of late, betrayed a degree of irritability which you, as an excellent juris peritus, know is scarcely desirable in a high legal functionary.”
“But my dear sir!” exclaimed Zuidhoorn, “I am not at all aware—”
“Quantum est quod nescimus!” interrupted the other.