Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/274

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

( 46 )

¬gave me any answer, I thought I could observe a look not indeed of contempt, but of that good-natured complacency and surprize which is frequently raised by the questions of children on what they see ; regarding me then with a smile, he answered — " Oh yes ! it is completely enjoyed in proper times for its enjoyment ; but not at this season : you are probably thrown out by counting months on your voyage, for- getting that the poles of our planets point in op- posite directions, and that though it is now mid- winter in England, this very day, as I told you yesterday, would be our summer solstice. — What need I say more ? — This is not the cell or hut of a hermit, but a mansion for a social being at a very differed period of the year; so much so, that if it were not for your satisfaction, or, to speak the honest truth, that my father has put me about you as his deputy, I would not be found here longer than our cattle can be re- freshed, for any money you could lay down." ¬I was so much perplexed with what I heard, ¬that ¬