in Ireland, while we came to London
to enjoy ourselves."

He laughed aloud, that very nice, young laugh of his, which made me feel
more at home with him than with people I'd known all my life. "You
really are a quaint little woman," he said. "Now I come to think of it,
I do know some people in Chicago named Trowbridge."

"Oh, well," said I, "if you must throw me out of anything, do it out of
your monoplane. It would be so much more distinguished than out of a
mere taxi. And at least, I should have flown first! For you would have
to take me up before you could dash me down. And so my dream would have
come true."

"Is it your dream to fly?" he asked, interested.

"Waking and sleeping," said I. "Ever since I was a tiny child, my very
best dream has been that I was flying. Even to dream it asleep is
perfectly wonderful and thrilling, worth being born for, just to feel.
What must it be when you're actually awake?"

"You are an enthusiast," said Captain March. "You've got it in your
blood. What a pity you're not a boy. You could be a 'flying man'
yourself."

"Well, it's something to know one," said I. "Why, I'd give my hand--the
left one--or anyhow, a finger of it--for just an hour in the air. A toe
would be too cheap."

"I'd take you up like a shot, if your people would let you go," said he.

I gasped with joy. "Oh, _would_ you?" I exclaimed. "Really and truly, I
didn't mean to hint! But it would be heaven to go!"

"Not in my _Golden Eagle_," he laughed, "for I'd guarantee to bring you
safe and sound back to earth again, this side of heaven. I can take up
one passenger, though I haven't yet, since I came out here. I haven't
met anybody, till now, I particularly cared to ask, and who would
particularly have cared to go."

"And you _would_ care to take me? How kind of you!"

"Kind to myself. I told you I hadn't any pals in England. You seem to be
the stuff they're made of. You'd be a 'mascot,' I'm sure. But your
people----"

"People? I haven't any. At least, a governess I once had said you
couldn't call two, 'people.' They must be spoken of as 'persons.' I have
only _persons_ who belong to me--just Father and a grown-up sister--a
half-sister. They like each other so much that they haven't room to care
about me. If the _Golden Eagle_ tipped me out, and smashed me as flat as
a paper doll, they wouldn't shed a tear."

"Poor little child! But maybe you're mistaken. Maybe _you_ are not
conceited!"

"Yes, I am! T