"Undoubtedly it is your duty to go, and you must do so. But I do not like the idea of leaving thirty such students as Howe, Little, and Phillips in the sole charge of Dr. Carboy. He is a good man; but he has not quite tact and energy enough for such a responsibility."
"Suppose I take them with me," suggested Mr. Fluxion, with a smile.
"That is hardly practicable."
"I mean in the Josephine," added the vice-principal.
"It's a long voyage round through the Strait of Gibraltar."
"I am in no hurry to reach Italy. How long shall you be absent in Germany?"
"About three weeks."
"Say twenty-one days," said Mr. Fluxion, musing. "The Josephine is a fast vessel. Under the most favorable circumstances, she would make the run in eight days. A fair passage would be twelve days. If I remain one day in Genoa, where my sister lives, the cruise would last twenty-five days."
"A few days' time, or a week, is of no consequence," added Mr. Lowington.
"But suppose you take the ship to Lisbon, on your return, and I will meet you there, say about the twenty-seventh or eighth of the month."