XIX
Reviewing the matter later, I see that I made a poor choice of time
and place. But at the moment this did not strike me. It is a simple
thing, I reflected, for a man to pass another by haughtily and without
recognition, when they meet on dry land; but when the said man, being
an indifferent swimmer, is accosted in the water and out of his depth,
the feat becomes a hard one.
When, therefore, having undressed on the Cob on the following morning,
I spied in the distance, as I was about to dive, the gray head of the
professor bobbing on the face of the waters, I did not hesitate. I
plunged in and swam rapidly toward him.
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