to act independently, and free to—”
The dear girl only finished this sentence by blushing. Her words revived me. Yet I refused to believe we should start. I drew Gräuben into the Professor’s study.
“Uncle, is it true that we are to go?”
“Why do you doubt?”
“Well, I don’t doubt,” I said, not to vex him; “but, I ask, what need is there to hurry?”
“Time, time, flying with irreparable rapidity.”
“But it is only the 16th May, and until the end of June—”
“What, you monument of ignorance! Do you think you can get to Iceland in a couple of days? If you had not deserted me like a fool I should have taken you to the Copenhagen office, to Liffender & Co. , and you would have learned then that there is only one trip every month from Copenhagen to Reykjavík, on the 22nd.”