At last his nerves calmed down, and like a man exhausted by too lavish an expenditure of vital power, he sank back exhausted into his armchair.
"What o'clock is it ?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
"Three o'clock," I replied.
"Is it really?
The dinner-hour is past, and I did not know it.

I am half dead with hunger.

Come on, and after dinner--" [1] In the cipher, _audax_ is written _avdas,_ and _quod_ and _quem,_ _hod_ and _ken_.

(Tr.) "Well ?" "After dinner, pack up my trunk." "What ?" I cried.
"And yours!" replied the indefatigable Professor, entering the dining-room..