Found! Ah, not yet. A clew; but perhaps a clew that would break in my hands, as I traced it.
I lost no time.
“These are pretty pictures,” said I, crushing myself into self-possession.
“What has that got to do with this job?”
“You think I’m a pretty good mechanic?”
“Middling. You handle tools well enough for a gentleman.”
“Well, if I were not a bit of an artist, I should not even be a middling mechanic. I like to see fine art, such as these drawings, hung up before a working man. I can understand how appreciating such things has helped you to become the first mechanic in England.”
“Who says I am that?”
“So the first engineer in England told me when he sent me here.”
“O, he sent you! I supposed you did not find your own way.”