At last he gave a preliminary cough, and with profound gravity, naming in succession the first, then the second letter of each word, he dictated me the following: mmessvnkaSenrA.icefdoK.segnittamvrtn ecertserrette,rotaisadva,ednecsedsadne lacartniiilvIsiratracSarbmvtabiledmek meretarcsilvcoIsleffenSnI.
I confess I felt considerably excited in coming to the end; these letters named, one at a time, had carried no sense to my mind; I therefore waited for the Professor with great pomp to unfold the magnificent but hidden Latin of this mysterious phrase.
But who could have foretold the result?
A violent thump made the furniture rattle, and spilt some ink, and my pen dropped from between my fingers.
"That's not it," cried my uncle, "there's no sense in it." Then darting out like a shot, bowling down stairs like an avalanche, he rushed into the Koenigstrasse and fled..