He drew in his breath sharply in pitying disappointment. “Uth! Well, you don’t know what you miss. Most fascinating this sort of thing.” He waved his hand comprehensively towards the rocks.
From behind him his daughter made a grimace at me.
To save a smile, I hoped politely he had had a good day’s work.
“Very fair. But I am only on the outer crust as yet. The great fascination of my work is that one never knows when one may not come upon a unique find. These,” he took up a handful of fragments from his bag, “these are interesting, but they tell us nothing we did not know before. That,” he tapped a piece with his finger nail, “is tertiary. That’s curious, the indentation was certainly made ten thousand years ago. Yes. I hope to come upon something better in a day or two.” He threw them back, and buckled the satchel. I had never heard any one talk so fast and jerkily. It seemed as though all the words of each short sentence rushed out of his mouth at once.
“Well,” he said, “we must say good-day. We have a long walk before us. My daughter has probably told you she is not geological. But being all day in the fresh air has set her up wonderfully. Perhaps, if you are staying on here, we may meet again, and I may be privileged to try and bring you under the spell of science. By the way, are the ruins of the old castle shown to strangers?”
It was rather an awkward question for me to answer without appearing churlish. I could hardly treat this man as a stranger.
“My host, Herr von Lindheim, is very ill just now,” I said, “but I am sure he would be glad for you to see them. Perhaps in a few days when he is better. But there is really scarcely anything of interest to see.”
The Professor smiled. “Anyhow, my work will be here for some time to come. If I am disappointed in this, perhaps I may remind you of your kind words. The comparatively modern antique is so fast disappearing that one likes to see it while one can. Goodbye. Come, Gertrude.”
He shook hands and went off. The girl, who had not spoken a word for some time, came up and gave me her hand in a shy manner, which was rather contradicted by a laugh in her eyes.
“Don’t let father make you a geologist,” she said archly. “There are quite enough of them in the world.”