ew York. He could do neither. The obstinacy of his
nature was such as to offer an invincible barrier against either
suggestion. One alternative remained. He had heard of women aviators.
If Doris could be induced to accompany him into the air, instead of
clinging sodden-like to the weight of Oswald's woe, then would the world
behold a triumph which would dwarf the ecstasy of the bird's flight and
rob the eagle of his kingly pride. But Doris barely endured him as yet,
and the thought was not one to be considered for a moment. Yet what
other course remained? He was brooding deeply on the subject, in his
hangar one evening--(it was Thursday and Saturday was but two days off)
when there came a light knock at the door.

This had never occurred before. He had given strict orders, backed by
his brother's authority, that he was never to be intruded upon when in
this place; and though he had sometimes encountered the prying eyes of
the curious flashing from behind the trees encircling the hangar, his
door had never been approached before, or his privacy encroached upon.
He started then, when this low but penetrating sound struck across the
turmoil of his thoughts, and cast one look in the direction from
which it came; but he did not rise, or even change his position on his
workman's stool.

Then it came again, still low but with an insistence which drew
his brows together and made his hand fall from the wire he had been
unconsciously holding through the mental debate which was absorbing him.
Still he made no response, and the knocking continued. Should he ignore
it entirely, start up his motor and render himself oblivious to all
other sounds? At every other point in his career he would have done
this, but an unknown, and as yet unnamed, something had entered his
heart during this fatal month, which made old ways impossible and
oblivion a thing he dared not court too recklessly. Should this be a
summons from Doris! Should (inconceivable idea, yet it seized upon him
relentlessly and would not yield for the asking) should it be Doris
herself!

Taking advantage of a momentary cessation of the ceaseless tap tap,
he listened. Silence was never profounder than in this forest on that
windless night. Earth and air seemed, to his strained ear, emptied of
all sound. The clatter of his own steady, unhastened heart-beat was all
that broke upon the stillness. He might be alone in the Universe for all
token of life beyond these walls, or so