Page:The Diothas, or, A far look ahead (IA diothasorfarlook01macn).pdf/101



the time we reached home—for so I already began to regard my new abode—it was time for the mid-day collation. As was the case with the early four-o'clock breakfast, all the members of the household do not necessarily meet at this meal. Each enters the dining-room when convenient, to partake, as may seem fit, of what is provided in the compartments of the ever serviceable cebin. In this way the whole time between nine in the morning and six in the evening is at the free disposal of each.

After this informal repast, where we did, however, exchange a few words with the ladies of the house, Utis carried me off to his indoor retreat, a combination of study and workshop. Here was a workbench of ingenious mechanical construction, a lathe, and various tools adapted for delicate operations on glass or metal. From these articles, of which I had but little knowledge, I soon turned my attention to the contents of the book-cases. The number of volumes was not great,—about a thousand, besides a cyclopædia in one hundred volumes.

"You see before you," said Utis, noting the direction

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