"I'm afraid, father dear," she said, "that we are keeping a busy man too long. Your man," she added, turning to Ralph, "said you were engaged in a wonderful experiment, and could not be disturbed."
"Busy? Not at all," said Ralph gracelessly. "You should not have been kept waiting one moment, and I am very indignant with Peter for not breaking down the door. He should have known, when he saw you, that you were not to wait."
"Oh, please, don't scold him because of me," said Alice, not, however, at all displeased with the implied compliment.
"I didn't know yesterday that you spoke English," he said, "so I used the language-rectifier, but I see that you speak it perfectly. That is a great relief to me, I assure you, for I speak French very indifferently. But tell me," he continued, "how did you get here so soon? The afternoon transatlantic aeroliner is not due yet, and it can hardly be twenty-four hours since you left Switzerland."
"We had the honor of being the first passengers to arrive by means of the new Subatlantic Tube," said James 212B 422. "As you are doubtless aware, the regular passenger service opens next week, but being one of the consulting engineers of the new electromagnetic tube, my daughter and I were permitted to make the first trip westward. We made it in perfect safety, although it was a little risky, as some small portions of the tube are not entirely completed."
"And we were so anxious to get here as quickly as possible," broke in Alice with a glance at Ralph.
"But you shouldn't have risked your lives, in an untested tube," he exclaimed. And then, the scientist in him to the front: "Tell me all about this new tube. Busy with my own work I have not followed its progress closely enough to know all its details."
"It has been most interesting work," said James 212B 422, "and we regard it as quite an achievement in electrical engineering. The new tube runs in a straight line between New York and Brest, France. If the tube were to run straight along the bottom of the ocean the distance between the two points would be from 3600 to 3700 miles due to the curvature of the earth. For this reason the tube was pushed straight through the earth, thereby making the distance only 3470 miles.
"You will understand it better by examining this chart," and unfolding a plan, he proceeded to elaborate on the finer points of the tube construction. "The greatest trouble," he went on, "our engineers experienced near the middle of the tube; this point is 450 miles nearer the center of the earth and the heat became very marked. It was necessary to install large liquid-air plants at several points in the tube to reduce the heat, and now as you ride through no heat is noticed.
"We boarded the spacious steel car, which resembles a thick cigar, at Brest last night at midnight, and arrived at the New York terminal at noon today. There was only one stop, a few hundred miles out from Brest, because of several short-circuited electromagnets.