Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/250

Rh of the fresh salt breeze blowing the length of the deck.

Under the animation of that crisp air, she decided finally that her feeling upon awakening had been due to the strangeness of travelling alone, and though, somehow, that explanation did not entirely satisfy her, it relieved her mind enough to make her the cheery one the moment later as she encountered young Preston at the bow.

"These big 'wireless' boats," she said sympathetically as, after the first greetings, the American stood staring disconsolately again at the flashing sea, "they never let one get well away from trouble, even upon the ocean, do they?"

Preston turned upon her quickly.

"I beg your pardon, Miss Varris," he apologized, as the girl showed her slight surprise at his gesture, "but really you now are almost as cheerful as Mr. Dunneston was yesterday just before you came up. He almost convinced me, you know, that I had taken to the sea solely 224