e. He
continued his reading and had a book in his hand from morning till
night. He seldom left the cottage except for a trip to the public
library or to a book-store, and never spoke to anyone unless it was
necessary.

Their maid was Jane Gladys O'Donnel, stout and good-natured, an
indifferent cook and rather untidy. She was twenty years old and the
eldest of a large and impoverished family. Her mother was a laundress--
"took in washin'"--and her earnings, with the wages of Jane Gladys,
must suffice to feed many hungry mouths. That was why Mrs. Conant had
hired Jane Gladys. Aunt Hannah knew the girl was not very competent,
but she was cheap, so Mr. Jones accepted her without protest. Alora had
lived so long abroad that she did not know what a competent American
housemaid is.

One forenoon--they had now been a month at Dorfield--Mr. Jones was
seated on the little front porch, reading as usual, when a queer
buzzing in the air overhead aroused his attention.

"What's that?" he called sharply, and Jane Gladys, who was dusting in
the little room behind him, replied:

"That, sor, is only Steve Kane's flyin' machine."

"A what?"

"A flyin'-machine, sor. Kane has a facthry fer makin' the crazy things
in the town yonder--over by the South Side."

"Indeed!" He got up and went into the yard to watch the far-away speck
in the sky that was humming so persistently. "Why, there's another!
There are two of them," he exclaimed, as if to himself.

"There might be a dozen, sor, 'cause there's a school for airy--airy--
airy-flyin' over by Kane's facthry, where they teaches the folks to fly
that buy the machines."

He stood a long time, watching the sky. When the last aeroplane had
disappeared he resumed his reading. But the next day he watched for the
machines again, abandoning his book to follow the course of the flyers.

"Where did you say that factory is located?" he asked Jane Gladys.

"Over by the gas works, sor, be the South Side. Ye takes the Ellem
street car, at the four corners. On a Sunday there be crowds a-watchin'
the air-divils."

He started to read again, but gave it up and glanced nervously up and
down the little porch. Jane Gladys noted this with surprise, for he was
usually quiet and unobservant, "like th' toad in th' garden, what
squats under a bush all day an' fergits he's alive till a fly lights on
his nose," as she expressed it to the family at home.

After lunch Mr. Jones went to town and after making