Chapter 7
THE UNACCOUNTABLE CONDUCT OF PROFESSOR DE WORMS"SIT down!" said Sunday in a voice that he used once or twice in
his life, a voice that made men drop drawn swords.
The three who had risen fell away from Gogol, and that equivocal
person himself resumed his seat.
"Well, my man," said the President briskly, addressing him as
one addresses a total stranger, "will you oblige me by putting your
hand in your upper waistcoat pocket and showing me what you have
there?"
The alleged Pole was a little pale under his tangle of dark
hair, but he put two fingers into the pocket with apparent coolness
and pulled out a blue strip of card. When Syme saw it lying on the
table, he woke up again to the world outside him. For although the
card lay at the other extreme of the table, and he
