The Reclusive Scholar

The vintage funicular had once again stalled, and Julian was forced to ascend the peak on foot. Balancing a flask of tea, he could not help (1) .......... as the scalding liquid slopped over the rim and onto his frozen knuckles. The interior heating in the station had been cranked up to (2) .......... intensity, leaving the waiting passengers on the (3) .......... of a heavy slumber as they watched the jagged ridges sliding (4) .......... the frosted glass. Julian had consulted the facility manager, who warned that the resident professor was hardly worth seeking out, but that he would grant an audience. He felt invigorated by the (5) .......... of encountering a living relic of that scientific era. He felt like an archivist who, after years of secondary research, finally (6) .......... hands on the primary manuscript. He held a nebulous (7) .......... of the professor in his mind, though (8) .......... from the manager’s ominous tone, the man would be both aged and remarkably frail.