Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/127

This page has been validated.
CHALLENGED!

self, when young Preston lowered the newspaper which had hid him and prevented him from seeing the other.

"Why, Mr. Dunneston!" he cried in surprise.

"I say—Mr. Preston!" the Briton returned, with the same surprise, but with more cautious pleasure.

"Well?" the American began, almost impatiently, sitting back as the Englishman seated himself on the other side of the table and automatically ordered his morning sole, mutton-chop, and "bit of greens, you know." "Well, Mr. Dunneston, I certainly have missed you."

"I say, three weeks, is it not, since I've seen you?" the Englishman returned cordially.

"A little over," the American corrected. "But they seem to have gone well with you, at least!"

"Oh, rather! But I say, so—so they have not gone well with you, Mr. Preston?"

"Oh—they have gone, at any rate," the

107