"_You_," I italicised. It struck me as phenomenal and rather absurd that
everybody that I came across should, in some way or other, be mixed up
with this portentous philanthropist. It was as if a fisherman were
drawing in a ground line baited with hundreds of hooks. He had a little
offended air.

"He, or, I should say, a number of people interested in a philanthropic
society, have asked me to go to Greenland."

"Do they want to get rid of you?" I asked, flippantly. I was made to
know my place.

"My dear fellow," Callan said, in his most deliberate, most Olympian
tone. "I believe you're entirely mistaken, I believe ... I've been
informed that the Système Groënlandais is one of the healthiest places
in the Polar regions. There are interested persons who...."

"So I've heard," I interrupted, "but I can assure you I've heard nothing
but good of the Système and the ... and its philanthropists. I meant
nothing against them. I was only astonished that you should go to such a
place."

"I have been asked to go upon a mission," he explained, seriously, "to
ascertain what the truth about the Système really is. It is a new
country with, I am assured, a great future in store. A great deal of
English money has been invested in its securities, and naturally great
interest is taken in its affairs."

"So it seems," I said, "I seem to run upon it at every hour of the day
and night."