Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/65

 back. Go home and make a fair copy of your observations and—thoughts. I 'll write when I require you. Stay—your address? Ah! I have it in my note-book. What 's your first name, Mister Wright?"

Robin grew two inches taller, or more, on the spot; he had never been called Mister before, except in jest!

"Robert, sir," he replied.

"Robert—ha! h'm! I'll call you Bob. I never could stand ceremony, so you 'll accustom yourself to the new name as quickly as you can—but perhaps it 's not new to you?"

"Please, sir, I've been used to Robin; if you have no objection, I should—"

"No objection—of course not," interrupted Mr. Smith; "Robin will do quite as well, though a little longer; but that's no matter. Good-bye, Robin, and—and—don't think too hard. It sometimes hurts digestion; good-bye."

"Well, what d'ee think of Ebbysneezer Smith, my electrical toolip?" asked Jim Slagg, whom Robin encountered again at the station. "He 's a wiry subject, I s'pose, like the rest of 'em?"

"He 's a very pleasant gentleman," answered Robin warmly.

"Oh, of coorse he is. All the Smiths are so—more or less. They 're a glorious family. I knows at