“Station-agent!” The girl was taken aback, for this was not at all in consonance with the Io myth as it had drifted back, from sources never determined, to New York. “Were you the station-agent?”
“I was.”
She bestowed a glance at once appraising and flattering, less upon himself than upon his apparel. “And what are you now? President of the road?”
“A reporter on The Ledger.”
“Really!” This seemed to astonish her even more than the previous information. “What are you reporting here?”
“I’m off duty to-night.”
“I see. Could you get off duty some afternoon and come to tea, if I’ll promise to have Io there to meet you?”
“Your party seems to be making signals of distress, Miss Forbes.”
“That’s the normal attitude of my friends and family toward me. You’ll come, won’t you, Mr. Banneker?”
“Thank you: but reporting keeps one rather too busy for amusement.”