FORE:Somebodys overboard!"Lalage," Bruce cried. "The Spanish--and the same name! Why, that is the same woman who received me on that fatal night at the corner house!"
FORE:In no other branch of machinery has so much research and experiment been made during eighty years past as in steam machinery, and, strange to say, the greater part of this research has been directed to the details of engines; yet there has been no improvement made during the time which has effected any considerable saving of heat or expense. The steam-engines of fifty years ago, considered as steam-using machines, utilised nearly the same proportion of the energy or power developed by the boiler as the most improved engines of modern constructiona fact that in itself indicates that an engine is not the vital part of steam machinery. There is not the least doubt that if the efforts to improve steam-engines had been mainly directed to economising heat and increasing the evaporative power of boilers, much more would have been accomplished with the same amount of research. This remark, however, does not apply to the present day, when the principles of steam-power are so well understood, and when heat is recognised as the proper element to deal with in attempts to diminish the expense of power. There is, of course, various degrees of economy in steam-using as well as in steam-generating machinery; but so long as the best steam machinery does not utilise but one-tenth or one-fifteenth part of the heat represented in the fuel burned, there need be no question as to the point where improvements in such machinery should be mainly directed.In metal working, owing to a more perfect division of labour, and a more intelligent manipulation than in wood-working, there is less combination in machinesin fact, a combination machine for metal work is rarely seen at this day, and never under circumstances where it occasions actual loss. The advantage of combination, as said, can only be in the framing and floor space occupied by the machines, but these considerations, to be estimated by a proper standard, are quite insignificant when compared with other items in the cost of machine operating, such as the attendance, interest on the invested cost of the machine, depreciation of value by wear, repairing, and so on.
FORE:"None of that with me," he growled. "Do you know who I am, Countess Lalage? I am Leon Lagage, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and your husband. Incomparable woman, you cannot alter that fact. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, till death do us part!""I have been talking to Lawrence," Bruce said. "My dear little girl, I have only learnt lately what you have endured for me. If these people had found you out they would most certainly have murdered you."
THREE:"Perhaps you had better describe this motor," said the coroner.
THREE:
