A Winter Amid the Ice, and Other Thrilling Stories

n agitated night. The grave event which had taken place at Doctor Ox's house actually kept t

re? Would they be obliged to order arrests to be made, that so great a scandal should not be repeated? All these doubts could not b

asse proceeded in person to the Counsellor Niklausse's house. He f

w?" asked V

ce yesterday," r

ctor, Domin

g, either of him or of th

to repeat, the counsellor and the burgomaster had resolved to pay a visit to Docto

xecution forthwith. They left the house and directed their steps towards Doctor Ox's laboratory, which w

ok them forward but thirteen inches per second. This was, indeed, the ordinary gait of the Quiquend

at some calm and tranquil crossway, or at the

nsieur the burgom

y friend," respo

sieur the counsell

w," answere

. The Custos and Schut affair was talked of everywhere, but the people had not yet come to the point of taking the part of one or the other. The Advocate Schut, having never had occasion to plead in a town where attorneys and bailiffs only existed in tradition, had, consequently, never lost a

ently made a short detour, so as not to pass within reach of the tower,

t will fall," s

too," replie

Van Tricasse. "But must it be p

n fact--the

they reached the d

Doctor Ox?

horities of the town, and they were at once int

able to suppose so, as the burgomaster--a thing that had never before happened in his

ectify some of the machinery--But everything was going on well! The pipes intended for the oxygen were already laid. In a few months t

ow to what he was indebted f

d the pleasure. We go abroad but little in our good town of Quiquendone. We count our ste

ng long intervals between his sentences. It seemed to him that Van Tricasse expressed himself with a certain volub

ooked at the burgomast

to his temperament, had taken possession of him. He did not gesticulate as yet, but this could not be far off. As for the counsellor, he rubbed his legs, and breath

everal steps; then he came bac

n a somewhat emphatic tome, "do you

s, Monsieur the burgoma

--it's a very long tim

Niklausse, who, not being abl

," returned Doctor Ox. "The workmen, whom we have had

had to choose in Quiquendon

burgomaster, who seemed to take t

. "A French workman would do in a day what it takes ten of

ose fingers closed together. "In wha

in which everybody uses it,

you must know; and we shall go neither to Paris nor London for our models! As for your project, I beg you to hasten its execution. Our streets have been unpaved for the putting down of y

nder was that those words, to which he was quite unaccustomed

, "the town cannot be depr

n which has been un-lighted fo

d advances, and we do not wish to remain behind. We desire our streets to be lighted within a month, or you must pay

It requires but a spark to inf

our chief of police, reports to us that a discussion took place in your drawing-room

r," replied Doctor Ox, who with diffi

ke place between Dominiqu

he words which passed w

the effect of his words! But of what stuff are you made, monsieur? Do you not know that in Quiquendone nothing more is n

," added

and bristling air, confronted Doctor Ox, ready to do him some violence, if by a gesture

octor did

your house. I am bound to insure the tranquillity of this town, and I do not wish it to be disturbed. Th

e pitch of anger. He was furious, the worthy Van Tricasse, and might certainly be heard outside. At las

ence which shook the house, the bu

r gait became less feverish. The flush on their faces faded away; from being crimson, they became rosy. A quarter of an hour aft