She tried to recollect. It was at a dance in London—a man she met who was connected with some wireless firm. She had forgotten his name. She had danced with him twice, and had then seen no more of him.
“Well, Miss Farncombe, you will be a little surprised to hear that system you speak of was invented no less than twenty years ago! It depends on a simple principle well known to scientists, but has been of no practical use until comparatively recently, when the wonderful Thermionic Valve enabled us to enormously increase the sensitiveness of the apparatus. The Americans got some kudos in connection with the laying of a ‘leader’ cable, as it is called, at the entrance to New York Harbour recently, but it is not generally known that we had the system working over here during the war.”
“Ah! Geoffrey,” laughed Sylvia, “it all seems so simple to you, no doubt, but to me it is wonderful. I am glad to hear the British were not so behind as so many would have us believe. You are such a modest old thing—I feel sure you had something to do with the development of this invention. Come, tell me now.”
“Oh! really nothing at all, Sylvia,” he replied, “except perhaps to design an amplifier which was used with the first leader cable at—well, one of our naval bases.”
“I thought so,” said the girl whom he loved so dearly.
“But how about the long-distance telephone?” asked May Farncombe.
“What do you know about such a telephone?” Geoffrey asked in surprise, as the girl had referred to a technical point which only a man versed in wireless could understand.
For a few seconds the girl seemed rather confused. Then she said in a rather faltering voice, as she took up her wine-glass: “Oh! I don’t know anything about wireless, you know. Somebody told me of some wonderful results in telephoning over long distances.”
Those words caused Geoffrey Falconer to ponder.
He dropped the subject. Loyal as he was to the great Marconi Company, he refused to discuss any of its confidences over a dinner-table. And he was relieved when the general chatter became concerned with a dance which was to be given at Peterborough on the following evening.