Which detail best characterizes the narrator's uncle in the excerpt?
excerpt from A Journey to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne
But my uncle was not a man to be kept waiting so adjourning therefore all minor questions, I presented myself before him.
He was a very learned man. Now most persons in this category supply themselves with information, as peddlers do with goods, for the for benefit of
others, and lay up stores in order to diffuse them abroad for the benefit of society in general. Not so my excellent uncle, Professor Hardwigg; he
studied, he consumed the midnight oil, he pored over
heavy tomes, and digested huge quartos and folios in order to keep the knowledge acquired to
himself.
There was a reason, and it may be regarded as a good one, why my uncle objected to display his learning more than was absolutely necessary: he
stammered; and when intent upon explaining the phenomena of the heavens, was apt to find himself at fault, and allude in such a vague way to sun,
moon, and stars that few were able to comprehend his meaning. To tell the honest truth, when the right word would not come, it was generally
replaced by a very powerful adjective.
As | said, my uncle, Professor Hardwigg, was a very learned man; and now add a most kind relative. was bound to him by the double ties of
affection and interest. took deep interest in all his doings, and hoped some (O day to be almost as learned myself. It was rare thing for me to be
absent from his lectures. Like him, I preferred mineralogy to all the other sciences. all My anxiety was to gain real knowledge of the earth. Geology and
mineralogy were to uS the sole objects of life, and in connection with these studies many a fair specimen of stone, chalk, or metal did we break with
our hammers.