had been condemned as the cause of her
beloved brother's downfall, and now he again excused her hardness to
himself as a result of her over-tenderness for Corrie. Either that, or
he himself had somehow failed, in some way had been found lacking.

He never did Flavia Rose so much wrong as to suppose her affected by the
physical injury he had suffered. If she had loved him, no such change
could have come between them. He knew that no marring of her beauty
would have had effect upon his steadfast love for her, and he rated her
far above himself in all good things.

It was quite a quarter-hour before Gerard looked up and saw that Corrie
had remained standing by the table in an abstraction complete as his
own, lips pressed shut and straight brows contracted. Startled out of
self-contemplation, the older man leaned forward to give his aid to a
moment whose bitterness he divined.

"Corrie, take off your furs and come to luncheon," he directed, crisply
energetic. "You have got to take out the Titan for its first run, this
afternoon."

Effectively aroused, Corrie swung around.

"The Titan?" he echoed. "To-day?"

"Yes. Come on."

In the thin, clear March sunshine, two hours later, the Mercury Titan
rolled out onto the mile track, shaking earth and air with its roar and
vibrant clamor. The force of testers and factory operatives crowded
about, busy men found time to cluster at the buildings' doors and
windows in keen interest.

Opposite Gerard and his little staff, the men who had designed and
evoked the winged monster, Corrie Rose was in his seat, flushed with
excitement, but collected and at home in the powerful machine which he
was to be the first to test and master. "Until you give it to its racing
driver, let no one except me take it?" he had begged of Gerard. And
Gerard had given the promise, smiling oddly.

But if Corrie was eager for the start, his mechanician palpably was not.
The place beside the driver remained vacant until the last moment, when
the reluctant Devlin slowly climbed into it.

"Devlin is nervous," Gerard gravely commented, to his own one-time
mechanician. "He is a very good factory man, but this is too big work
for him. If they were going on a longer trip, I should not like to send
Corrie out with him."

"I ain't denying anything," snapped Rupert, scowling after the departing
car as it leaped for the open track like an animal unleashed.

That first afternoon's trial of the Mercury Titan pro