After supper, Stedman went
off to see the King, and came back in a little while to say
that his Majesty would give them an audience the next day
after breakfast. "It is too dark now," Stedman explained;
"and it's raining so that they can't make the street-lamps
burn. Did you happen to notice our lamps? I invented them;
but they don't work very well yet. I've got the right idea,
though, and I'll soon have the town illuminated all over,
whether it rains or not."
The consul had been very silent and indifferent, during
supper, to all around him. Now he looked up with some show of
interest.
"How much longer is it going to rain, do you think?" he asked.
"Oh, I don't know," said Stedman, critically. "Not more than
two months, I should say." The consul rubbed his rheumatic
leg and sighed, but said nothing.
The Bradleys returned about ten o'clock, and came in very
sheepishly. The consul had gone off to pay the boatmen who
had brought them, and Albert in his absence assured the
sailors that there was not the least danger of their being
sent away. Then he turned into one of the beds, and Stedman
took one in another room, leaving the room he had occupied
heretofore for the consul.
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