“Oh, I see, I see,” said the Professor, “you are writing all this for a newspaper. I see.”
“Yes,” we said, “we mentioned that at the beginning.”
“Ah,” said the Professor, “did you? Very possibly. Yes.”
“We propose,” we said, “to feature the article for next Saturday.”
“Will it be long?” he asked.
“About two columns,” we answered.
“And how much,” said the Professor in a hesitating way, “do I have to pay you to put it in?”
“How much which?” we asked.
“How much do I have to pay?”
“Why, Professor” we began quickly. Then we checked ourselves. After all was it right to undeceive him, this quiet, absorbed man of science with his ideals, his atoms and his emanations. No, a hundred times no. Let him pay a hundred times.
“It will cost you,” we said very firmly, “ten dollars.”
The Professor began groping among his apparatus. We knew that he was looking for his purse.
“We should like also very much,” we said, “to insert your picture along with the article”
“Would that cost much?” he asked.
126
