“True, true! But I wish to weigh more particularly on the fact that men will be men! I am a man, Roger,—not a boy!”
“Really! Well, upon my word, I should at this moment take you for a raw lad of about eighteen,—for you are blushing, Von Glauben!—actually blushing!”
The Professor drew out a handkerchief, and wiped his brow.
“It is a warm morning, Roger,” he said, with a mildly reproachful air; “I suppose I am permitted to feel the heat?” He paused—then with a sudden burst of impatience he exclaimed: “By the Emperor’s head! It is of no use denying it—I am very much put out, Roger! I must get a boat, and slip off to The Islands at once!”
Sir Roger stared at him in complete amazement.
“You? You want to slip off to The Islands? Why, Von Glauben——!”
“Yes—yes,—I know! You cannot possibly imagine what I want to go there for! You wouldn’t suppose, would you, that I had any special secrets—an old man like me;—for instance, you would not suspect me of any love secrets, eh?” And he made a ludicrous attempt to appear sentimental. “The fact is, Roger,—I have got into a little scrape over at The Islands—” here he looked warmer and redder than ever;—“and I want to take precautions! You understand—I want to take care that the King does not hear of it—Gott in Himmel! What a block of a man you are to stand there staring open-mouthed at me! Were you never in love yourself?
“In love? In love!—you,—Professor? Pray pardon me—but—in love? Am I to understand that there is a lady in your case?”
“Yes!—that is it,” said Von Glauben, with an air of profound relief; “There is a lady in my case;—or my case, speaking professionally, is that of a lady. And I shall get any sort of a sea-tub that is available, and go over to those accursed Islands without any delay!”
“If the King should send for you while you are absent—” began De Launay doubtfully.