ts. He said that he had no head for
heights, but if Di and Peggy wanted to go, and Captain March was kind
enough to take them--er--up, a tiny way into the--er--air, he supposed
that in these days he ought not to offer any objections.

Captain March had the spare helmet ready (it looked so new and smart, I
felt sure he had bought it for the occasion), and nothing stood between
Diana the Huntress and her quarry--nothing except her own changing mood.
I think it was the look of the helmet which gave her that sinking
feeling of irrevocability which seems to sever you, as with a sword,
from all the dear little safe things that have made up your life in the
past. She glanced from the helmet which the airman held toward her to
the monoplane spread-eagling on the ground. I saw her big eyes dilate as
they fixed themselves anxiously on the passenger's perch, to which the
honoured guest must climb, above the conductor's seat, crawling through
the wire stays, or whatever you call them, which were like a spider's
web inviting a fly. Diana turned pale. Even her lips were white. The
shadows under her eyes darkened as if she were ill.

"You're--you're sure it's safe?" she faltered.

"Safe as a house. Safer than a _jerry_-built house," Captain March
assured her cheeringly. "Look at these!" and he pointed out again all
the features of his invention that made the automatic stability of the
machine. "But if you----"

"Oh! I'm not afraid," quavered Di, her eyes roving in an agonized way
over the crowd collecting to see the lovely girl taken up into the sky
by the brave airman. "It isn't that. Only--it won't make me seasick,
will it?"

"I've never had a passenger seasick," said Eagle.

"And--you won't turn upside down, will you?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, then, I--I'll go."

On with the condemned cap!--I mean the leather helmet. Diana's paling
beauty was blotted out. Wrapped in her fur-lined cloak, she was
trembling all over. Her hands, which she held confidingly out for the
thick mittens Captain March had got for her, shook like the last leaves
on a frozen tree.

"Think you're fit for it, Di?" Father asked anxiously.

"Yes, indeed!" came hissing through the helmet. But I felt it was only
the tonic of other women's envy which was keeping her up. I was envying
her, too.

Captain March helped Di scramble into her perch. His hand was steady and
strong. All his life and skill and manhood were for her. She was
tenderly yet firmly s