Queechy, Volume I

by Susan Warner

"What, Louis XV.'s time," said the doctor, muttering to himself.

" 'Jan. 27. 2 ditto, ditto.'

" 'Two' means the second volume, I suppose?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Hum if you were a mouse, you would gnaw through the wall in time, at that rate. This is in the original?"

"Yes Sir."

" 'Feb. 3. Paris. L. E. K.'

"What do these hieroglyphics mean?"

"That stands for the 'Library of Entertaining Knowledge,' " said Fleda.

"But how is this? do you go hop, skip, and jump through these books, or read a little, and then throw them away'? Here it is only seven days since you began the second volume of Lacretelle not time enough to get through it."