Page:Kéraban the Inflexible Part 2 (Jules Verne).djvu/20

6 his promenade, had been led to the quay precisely at the time when his servant was undergoing the weighing operation.

"You here, sir!" said Bruno.

"Yes, myself," replied Van Mitten. "I see you are in the act of—"

"Of weighing myself, sir. Yes."

"And what is the result of the operation?"

"The result is that I do not know whether there are any weights light enough to weigh me!"

Bruno made this reply with such a dolorous expression of countenance that the plaint went direct to the heart of Van Mitten.

"What!" he exclaimed. "Have you grown so thin since you left home, my poor Bruno?"

You may judge for yourself, sir," replied the man.

Then a third weight, less than the previous one, was placed in the scale.

This time Bruno, by slow degrees, managed to tip the scales, and put them in equilibrio on the horizontal beam.

"At last!” he exclaimed. “But what is such a weight as that?"

"Yes, what is that weight?" asked Van Mitten.

It was exactly, in Russian measure, four pounds, neither more nor less.

Van Mitten immediately took the guide book, which Bruno still retained, and referred to the tables of weights and measures of the various nationalities.