"It is; and it admits of no delay," answered Michael Sunlocks.
"May I mention its purport?" said the Speaker.
"Say only that the President has a message for Althing," said Michael Sunlocks.
"At what hour to-morrow night?" asked the Speaker.
"At mid-evening," answered Michael Sunlocks, and then, with the sigh of a weary man, he turned towards the stove.
The Speaker glanced at him with his dim eyes screwed up, pushed back his little skullcap, and ran his forefinger along his bald crown, then shook his head gravely and left the room, saying within himself, "Why this haste? And why the message? Ah, these impetuous souls that rise so high and so fast sometimes go down headlong to the abyss!"
VI.
Michael Sunlocks was turning round from the stove when Greeba entered, and for all the womanly courage with which she tried to carry herself before him, he could see that she looked frightened, and that her eyes sought his eyes for mercy and cheer.
"Michael," she cried, "what is it that you are about to do? Tell me. I cannot bear this suspense any longer."
He made her no answer, but sat at his desk and lifted his pen. At that she stamped her foot and cried again—