“It must keep you quite busy, running a tourist home,” Penny said to make conversation.
“Indeed, it does,” sighed the woman. “Most of my roomers aren’t so bad, but this last couple runs me ragged. They seem to expect hotel service.”
“The professor and his wife?”
“Yes, Professor and Mrs. Bettenridge.”
“Bettenridge,” Penny repeated alertly. “I’ve heard that name before. Does the professor come from Silbus City?”
“He never said. But he’s an inventor, and he brought his invention with him.”
“What sort of invention is it?”
“A light ray machine which explodes mines on land or sea. The affair is very complicated.”
At Penny’s expression of doubt, Mrs. Leonard added: “It really works too! The first night the professor came here, he exploded a mine out in the lake. Such a splash as it made! I saw it with my own eyes! The professor expects to sell it to the Army or Navy for a lot of money.”
“If it will do all he claims, why hasn’t the government taken it over before this?”