“I was wondering whether you would like to come down to the jetty with me and see my motor boat,” he said in a different tone of voice.
“A motor boat?” Larina exclaimed. “I have never seen one.”
“They do exist,” Wynstan said with a smile, “and this is a boat I had specially made for me.”
He saw that she was interested and then went on,
“I was friends with Captain William Newman, who two years ago crossed the Atlantic from West to East in a boat that had the unusual name of Abiel, Abbot Low.”
“I have never heard of him,” Larina said.
“Perhaps the Americans were more excited about his achievement than the English,” Wynstan said. “But it certainly made history since the boat was powered by a paraffin engine of a mere twelve horsepower!”
“And you have a boat like it?” Larina enquired.
