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The sentimental side of Droop's plan first monopolized Phoebe's attention. "Rebecca Wise!" she exclaimed, turning with mock severity to face her sister. "Why is it I've never heard tell about this love affair before now? Why, Joe Chandler's just a fine man. Is it you that broke his heart an' made him an old bachelor all his life?"
Droop smacked his lips critically and turned up his eyes for greater abstraction. The wine was pleasant to the palate, he thought, but well it wasn't whiskey. "Of this letter, now," the knight resumed, anxious to discover his own advantage in Droop's plans. "'Twere vain for you, a stranger to the Lord High Treasurer, to accost him with it. A very circumspect and pragmatical old lord, believe me.
He said you knew the lord and could take me around, forsooth, and sorter interduce me, ye see." With leisurely gravity, Sir Percevall slowly read the note, and then, returning it with a polite gesture: "This letter hath reference to certain monopolies," he said. "My cousin Bacon doth write in high terms of your skill and high merit, Master Master " "Droop, sir. Copernicus Droop's my name."
Droop's so tight he can't manage the machine, what'll we do. Here we are tied up to the North Pole " "Oh, drat the old Panchronicon!" cried Rebecca. Then rising in her wrath, she continued with energy: "The's one thing I'm goin' to do right this blessed minute. I'm goin' to draw a hull bucket o' cold water an' throw it over that mis'able critter in there!
Droop's hat dropped from Bacon's relaxed grasp and he seemed to wilt in his speechless despair. Phoebe's sympathy was awakened at once, but her anxiety to know more of the all-important question of authorship was perhaps the keenest of her emotions. "Why," she exclaimed, "'tis a little matter that needs not my father, methinks.
It was not until the accused man had indignantly denied all knowledge of Droop's property that the crestfallen Yankee recollected that he had left the apparatus in question in the deserted mansion of Newington, where he had stored it for greater safety after Bacon's first unexpected visit. Without hesitation, he determined to return to 1598 and reclaim his own.
Won't he see the sun gettin' left behind an' whirlin' the other way from what it does in nature? An' ef the sun goes the other way round, ain't it sure to unwind all the time thet it's ben a-rollin' up?" Rebecca's ball of yarn fell from her lap at this, and, as she followed it with her eyes, she seemed to see a practical demonstration of Droop's marvellous theory.
Phoebe felt all the tremendous force of Droop's logic, and she flushed with excitement. One last practical objection was obvious, however. "The thing must be all right, Mr. Droop," she said; "an' come to think of it, this must be the reason so many folks have tried to reach the North Pole. But it never has been reached yet, an' how are you agoin' to do it?"
"I'd jest love to see it," said Rebecca, her coldness all forgotten, "but it's mos' too late fer this afternoon. There's the supper to get, you know, an' " "But the plan, Rebecca," Phoebe cried. "You've forgotten that I haven't heard Mr. Droop's plan." "I wish 't you'd call me 'Cousin Copernicus," said Droop, earnestly. "You know I've sworn off quit drinkin' now."
Droop's pride was touched. "Ah, but that ain't all it can do!" he cried. "Here's a blank cylinder. You jest talk at the machine while it's runnin', an' it'll talk back all you say." This was too much for Rebecca's credulity, and Droop could not induce her to talk into the trumpet. "You can't make a fool o' me, Copernicus Droop," she exclaimed. "You try, Cousin Phoebe," he said at last.
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