Baden-Baden, we can go somewhere else. I really think we ought to become
better acquainted, and I may prevail on you to go with me to New York."

Claudius was silent, and he blew a great cloud of smoke. What sort of a
travelling companion would Mr. Barker be for him? Could there be a
greater contrast to his own nature? And yet he felt that he would like
to observe Mr. Barker. He felt drawn to him without knowing why, and he
had a presentiment that the American would drag him out of his quiet
life into a very different existence. Mr. Barker, on the other hand,
possessed the showman's instinct. He had found a creature who, he was
sure, had the elements of a tremendous lion about town; and having found
him, he meant to capture him and exhibit him in society, and take to
himself ever after the credit of having unearthed the handsome, rich,
and talented Dr. Claudius from a garret in Heidelberg. What a story that
would be to tell next year, when Claudius, clothed and clipped, should
be marrying the girl of the season, or tooling his coach down the
Newport avenue, or doing any of the other fashionable and merry things
that Americans love to do in spring and summer!

So Mr. Barker insisted on driving Claudius back to his lodging, though
it was only five minutes' walk, and exacted a promise that the Doctor
should take him on the morrow to a real German breakfast at the Fauler
Pelz, and that they would "start off somewhere" in the afternoon.

Claudius said he had enjoyed a very pleasant evening, and went up to his
room, where he read an elaborate article on the vortex theory by
Professor Helmholtz, with which, having dipped into transcendental
geometry, he was inclined to find fault; and then he went calmly to bed.