Prevol et Lebrun', and it had only been published the previous year;
so as he turned over the leaves carelessly, M. Vandeloup caught
sight of a name which he knew. He smiled a little, and closing the
book put it under his arm, while he turned smilingly towards his
companion, whom he found looking keenly at him.
'I shall enjoy this book immensely,' he said, touching the volume.
Dr Gollipeck nodded and chuckled in a hoarse rattling kind of way.
'So I should think,' he answered, with another sharp look, 'you are
a very clever young man, my friend.'
Vandeloup acknowledged the compliment with a bow, and wondered
mentally what this old man meant. Gaston, however, was never without
an answer, so he turned to Gollipeck again with a nonchalant smile
on his handsome lips.
'So kind of you to think well of me,' he said, coolly flicking the
ash off the end of his cigarette with his little finger; 'but why do
you pay me such a compliment?'
Gollipeck answered the question by asking another.
'Why are you so fond of toxicology?' he said, abruptly, shuffling
his feet in the long dry grass in which they were now walking in
order to rub the dust off his ungainly, ill-blacked shoes.
Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders.
'To pass the time,' he said, carelessly, 'that is all; even office
work, exciting as it is, becomes wearisome, so I must take up some
subject to amuse myself.
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