“I haven’t one with me, Frau Director. Why should I, I am not ill; I am only up here on a visit.”

“Tommyrot! Did you send for me because you weren’t ill?”

“No,” he laughed politely, “it was because I caught a little⁠—”

“Cold. We’ve often seen such colds. Here, young ’un,” she said, and rummaged again in her bag. She brought out two longish leather cases, one red and one black, and put them on the table. “This one is three francs fifty, the other five. The five-franc one is better, of course. It will last you a lifetime if you take care of it.”

Smiling he took up the red case and opened it. The glass instrument lay like a jewel within, fitted neatly into its red velvet groove. The degrees were marked by red strokes, the tenths by black ones; the figures were in red and the tapering end was full of glittering quicksilver. The column stood below blood-heat.