She introduced them, but Mr. Aldrich was not inclined to make any friendly advances towards a boy in common working clothes. He deliberately turned his back on Tom, and began a conversation with Grace.
“Had we not better start out on our cruise?” he asked.
“Why, I had forgotten all about it, quite,” declared the wilful miss, with an encouraging smile at Tom, which quite nettled the newcomer.
“The water is very smooth,” observed young Aldrich. “I am sure you will enjoy it.”
“I regret it very much,” replied Grace, “but I was ready an hour ago. It is my time for musical practice now, and you will have to excuse me. Don’t hasten, Tom,” she added, crossing over to Tom.
“I think I had better be getting back on duty at the wireless station,” said our hero.
“Wireless, eh?” young Aldrich condescended to observe at this juncture. “In with that fad, eh?”
“I am trying to make something more than a fad out of it,” replied Tom pleasantly.
“Wire repairer or something of that sort?” intimated Bert Aldrich with a supercilious stare at Tom’s working clothes.
“Indeed, no,” flashed out Grace resentfully. “Tom is quite an expert, aren’t you, Tom? He has been telling me the most delightful and fascinating things about the wireless. Oh, there is papa!”