Betty Trevor | Page 8

present method? Did he feel inclined to give it a trial?"
"Oh yes, it went all right. He said it would do."
"But that's capital! Capital! I congratulate you heartily! Didn't Mr Davidson seem pleased that you should have hit on such a bright idea?"
"Oh, he said it was all right."
Miles made a determined attack on his plate, as if pleading to be left alone to enjoy his dinner in peace. Since the days of his babyhood he had shown a strong inventive genius, and now it was his delight to spend his spare moments working in his little cupboard sanctum at home, striving to improve on any bit of machinery which struck him as falling short of perfection. It was a very simple thing which he had attempted, but in machinery, as in many other things, trifles are all-important, and it was a triumph indeed that a lad of nineteen should have hit on an improvement which was considered worth a trial.
Dr Trevor and his wife exchanged smiles of happy satisfaction. They yearned to ask a dozen more questions, but refrained out of sympathy with that natural masculine reserve which they understood so well. Betty, however, was less considerate.
"I do think you might tell us a little more about it, Miles!" she cried resentfully. "You know we are all dying of curiosity. I can't think why it is that boys can never give a decent account of anything that has happened! Now, if it had been me, I should have begun at the very beginning, from the moment I entered the works, and told you how I felt as I went upstairs, and how I began to speak to the manager, and what he said, and how he looked, and--"
"What colour of necktie he wore--"
Betty tossed her head in scornful contempt of the burst of laughter evoked by Miles' words.
"And what he did with the screw, or whatever you call it, when you showed it to him, and what the other men said, and-- Oh, dozens of interesting things; but you can say nothing but `all right' to every single question. It is dull!"
"You must allow for diversities of talent, Betty," said Mrs Trevor, laughing. "We do not all possess your powers of description. Miles is very modest over his success, and I, like you, want to hear more details. You must be sure to tell us how the trial works, Son; and if your improvement is permanently adopted, I shall be proud!"
"Nothing to be proud of!" muttered Miles into his plate.
If there was one thing he loathed more than another, it was to be praised and petted, and made the centre of attention. His roughened fingers clenched themselves tightly round the knife and fork, and he cut his beef into pieces with savage energy.
Why couldn't they leave a fellow alone? All this fuss about a bit of a cog!
Betty divined his discomfiture, as she divined all that concerned her beloved brother, but she had not the tact to come to the rescue, and it was Jill who turned the conversation by a casual question which yet was of interest to all the family.
"Father, is there a father at the big house at the corner? We can't decide what's the matter with him. There must have been one, of course, because of the Pet. Jack says he's dead, but she is not in mourning, and the mother doesn't wear widow's things. I say he's gone a tour round the world, and is buying presents at every port so as to pamper her more than ever when he comes back."
Dr Trevor looked a trifle mystified, but he was accustomed to his children's mental flights, and, after a moment's consideration, he replied smilingly--
"If you mean Number 14, the tenant is a certain Major Alliot, who is at present, I believe, with his regiment in India. I don't know anything about his household, or the identity of the `Pet,' as you are pleased to call her."
"I wish she'd fall downstairs, or have an accident of some sort suddenly, so that they'd have to fly across for you in a hurry," sighed Jill with frank brutality. "I wish all the people in that row would have accidents, so that you could tell us all about them. We are dying with curiosity!"
"Wouldn't influenza do as well? There is no need to be quite so brutal, Jill," her father reminded her. "Besides, it is hardly my usual custom to tell you `all about' my cases, is it? I should be very glad to find new patients nearer here for my own sake; which reminds me, dear, that I have to go a long drive after dinner, and shan't be home for the evening, as I hoped. It is unfortunate having so many late nights this week."
Mrs Trevor's