Professor Sars. 203 



burst out laughing as the young woman went out, 

 calling across the room to me, ' You are done for 

 now.' 



" The maid, however, soon returned with the clothes 

 all well brushed." 



Those who have read M. du Chaillu's entertaining 

 book, "The Land of the Midnight Sun," will be 

 familiar with the primitive simplicity and pure-minded 

 freedom of Norwegian manners and customs. 



Mrs. Robertson on leaving home had arranged for 

 an absence of a few weeks, as much might depend on 

 the condition her husband was in. Mr. Crosskey, by 

 the limits of his holiday, was obliged to leave Norway 

 as soon as he and his colleague had finished the 

 examination of the shell-beds that were within their 

 reach. As the Robertsons were able to stay a few 

 days longer, they had time to see a little of the 

 country, free from geological cares. 



Professor Michael Sars introduced them to his son, 

 Georg Ossian Sars. The latter pleased them much 

 by his modest demeanour, a circumstance the more 

 striking because, as it now appears, from the youth- 

 fulness of his looks they had miscalculated his age by 

 a dozen years. He was already, though they did not 

 know it, the author of important works in natural 

 history, and had given the world a foretaste of the 

 pre-eminence in that branch of science which he was 

 destined to attain. 



One day he and his little sister came to the hotel 

 to see the Robertsons. She was to be the interpreter, 

 as at that date she had a better command of English 

 than he had, though neither of them had much for 



