women went through the great war as men. I am one of them,
that is all. Many were never discovered. Those who were, owed it to
wounds that brought them under observation. Had I not been wounded,
you would never have known. I could have exercised my skill as a
nurse, without the fact of my sex becoming apparent.

"That was what I was hoping for and counting on. I wanted to serve
this expedition both as a flyer and as a nurse. Fate willed otherwise.
A chance bullet intervened. You know the truth. But I feel confident,
already, that my secret is safe with you."

The light on her forehead, still a little ridged and reddened by the
pressure of the edge of the mask, showed it broad, high, intelligent.
Her eyes were deep and eager with a kind of burning determination. The
hand she had rested on the table clenched with the intensity of her
appeal:

"Let me stay! Let me serve you all! I ask no more of life than that!"

The Master, knotting together the loose threads of his emotion, came a
step nearer.

"Your name, madam!" he demanded.

"I cannot tell you. I am Captain Alfred Alden to you, still. Just
that. Nothing more."

"You continue insubordinate? Do you know, madam, that for this I could
order you bound hand and foot, have you laid on the trap in the lower
gallery, and command the trap to be sprung?"

His face grew hard, deep-lined, almost savage as he confronted
her--the only being who now dared stand against his will. She smiled
oddly, as she answered:

"I know all that, perfectly well. And I know the open Atlantic lies a
mile or two below us, in the empty night. Nevertheless, you shall
not learn my name. All I shall tell you is this--that I am really an
aviator. 'Aviatrix' I despise. I served as 'Captain Alden' for eight
months on the Italian front and twenty-one months on the Western. I am
an ace. And--"

"Never mind about all that!" the Master interrupted, raising his
hand. "You are a woman! You are here under false colors. You gained
admission to this Legion by means of false statements--"

"Ah, no, pardon me! Did I ever claim to be a man?"

"The impression you gave was false, and was calculated to be so. This
is mere quibbling. A lie can be acted more effectively than spoken.
All things considered, your life--"

"Is forfeited, of course. I understand that perfectly well. And
that means two things, as direct corollaries. First, that you lose
a trained flyer and a woman with Red Cross training; a woman