human
It’s the most amazing get-back I ever heard of, he ran on, delighted to interest her so much.
gpt
Benny’s the last man in Switzerland we should have looked to for this, and here he is, cock-a-whoop in the papers, and as famous as a prize-fighter. In London they’re talking of nothing else. He’s invented a new kind of aeroplane, and one which must be the machine of the future, so they say. That’s why he didn’t come into the hotel. We thought him a secret kind of bird, and all the time he was just working away to bag the £10,000 offered by the London editor. If he gets it, it will be an eye-opener; but old Gordon Snagg, who has been hanging about the chalet, declares he will get it, and that he deserves to. Don’t you see, Lady Delayne, that Benny has been the ghost? It was his machine over the Zaat which scared the people so. Fancy, old Benny—mustn’t he have a head, and didn’t he think a lot when he heard us talking about him?
human
Benny is a genius, was his testimony.
gpt
He’s just one of those born strong men you can’t keep back. If we had more of him in England, there wouldn’t be all this talk about decadence. We’re just falling behind as pioneers, and that’s the whole truth. If you speak to the manufacturers about it, they say it doesn’t matter, because we can always imitate the foreigners when they have invented things. I’m sure that’s all nonsense. The same brains which lead the way will hold it in the long run. Look how long it took us to overtake the French in the motor-car business; have we done it even now? Benny is one of our national assets, and if he succeeds, no honour is too big for him.
human
Then you think he will succeed, Mr. Fenton?
gpt
Bob knows more about machinery—he’ll tell you. If it depends on the man and not on a bag of tricks, I’m sure he will succeed. That remains to be seen: we shall know to-morrow, anyway.
human
And make a night of it if our man wins,
gpt
He must be the cleverest chap alive, he continued.
human
Not a soul at Andana had an idea of it. He’s been flying about here for weeks, and all the time we thought him a good-natured crank, to be chaffed and rotted as much as we pleased. Now he looks like becoming one of the most famous men in the world. Sir Gordon says he will, and he’s had his eye to the keyhole. Perhaps he wants to float Benny as a company; I shouldn’t be surprised. If his machine is what he claims it to be, there’ll not be a rival in the market in a month. Sir Gordon is sure of it.
gpt
Then it is a very wonderful machine, Mr. Otway?
human
So wonderful that you could pack it up in a hair-trunk, they tell me. The engine’s a gem—just like a toy. The frame looks like a torpedo—it’s as light as feathers. We shall see something to-morrow, Lady Delayne, and I’m jolly glad I’m at Andana, anyway. They start from the slope before the Park at nine o’clock. Benny has to fly right over Mont Blanc, then to Zermatt, and back across the Weisshorn. He should be here before dark to win. If he does it—well, I hope the Palace will not catch fire; but I shouldn’t wonder if it did. You’ll be coming, of course. We shall see you there in the morning?
gpt
Certainly. She would not miss it on any account. The news had surprised her very much; she did not add that, although she had seen Benny every day, he had said no word to her. This was for her own thoughts, which now engrossed her so that she was very glad when they came down to her chalet and she could say
human
Good-bye.