He had started
ten or twelve years ago as a draughtsman in the offices of the State
Railways, and was still there, with a growing family--and "such
pay--such pay, my dear fellow!" He threw up his eyes and clasped his
hands despairingly.
"Look here," said Peer, interrupting him. "Where is the best place in
Christiania to go and have a good time in the evening?"
"Well, St. Hans Hill, for instance. There's music there."
"Right--will you come and dine with me there, to-night--shall we say
eight o'clock?"
"Thanks. I should think I would!"
Peer arrived in good time, and engaged a table on a verandah. Langberg
made his appearance shortly after, dressed in his well-saved Sunday
best--faded frock-coat, light trousers bagged at the knees, and a straw
hat yellow with age.
"It's a pleasure to have someone to talk to again," said Peer. "For the
last year or so I've been knocking about pretty much by myself."
"Is it as long as that since you left Egypt?"
"Yes; longer. I've been in Abyssinia since then."
"Oh, of course, I remember now. It was in the papers. Building a railway
for King Menelik, weren't you?"
"Oh, yes. But the last eighteen months or so I've been idling--running
about to theatres and museums and so forth. I began at Athens and
finished up with London. I remember one day sitting on the steps of the
Parthenon declaiming the Antigone--and a moment with some meaning in it
seemed to have come at last."
"But, dash it, man, you're surely not comparing such trifles with a
thing like the great Nile Barrage? You were on that for some years,
weren't you? Do let's hear something about that.
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