He answered in the negative.

“Why not?” she asked, and her protruding lower lip hung in the air after she spoke.

He made no answer. The poor youth was still young; he had never got over his schoolboy shyness. He sat, so to speak, on his bench, did not know the answer and took refuge in dumbness.

“Perhaps you never do take your temperature?”

“Oh, yes, Frau Director, when I have fever.”

“My dear child, one takes it in the first instance to see whether one has fever. According to you, you have none now?”

“I can’t tell, Frau Director. I cannot really tell the difference. Ever since I came up here, I have been a little hot and shivery.”

“Aha! And where is your thermometer?”