Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/402

 as to believe in their continuance? That's the point, lad—their continuance. Are you not aware that, in course o' time, rust they must—"

"An' then they 'll bu'st," interpolated Robin.

"Hee! hee! ha!" giggled Letta, who, during all this time, had been gazing with sparkling eyes and parted lips, from one speaker to another, utterly forgetful of, and therefore thoroughly enjoying, her own existence.

"Yes, then they 'll bu'st," repeated Rik, with an approving nod at Robin; "you 're right, my boy, and the sooner they do it the better, for I 'm quite sick of their flashings and crashings."

"I rather suspect, Sam," said Mr. Wright, "that the gentlemen with whom you dined the other day would not agree with uncle Rik."

"Whom do you refer to, George?" asked Mrs. Wright.

"Has he not yet told you of the grand 'inaugural fête,' as they call it, that was given at the house of Mr. Pender, chairman of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, to celebrate the opening of direct submarine telegraphic communication with India?"

"Not a word," replied Mrs. Wright, looking at Sam.

"You never mentioned it to me," said Madge, with a reproachful glance in the same direction.