peared so gentle and
detached. It seemed doubtful if he realized what he was saying or even
that he was speaking aloud.

As the Gray squadron started to turn in order to keep on their side of
the white posts which circled around the spur of La Tir, one of the
dirigibles failed to respond to its rudder and lost speed; that in the
rear, responding too readily, had its leader on the thwart. An
aeroplane, sheering too abruptly to make room, tipped at a dangerous
angle and a tragedy seemed due within another wink of the eye.

"Huh-huh-huh!" came from Feller in quick breaths, like the panting of a
dog on a hot day.

"Oh!" gasped Mrs. Galland in one long breath of suspense.

The envelope of the second dirigible grazed the envelope of its leader;
the groggy plane righted itself and volplaned underneath a dirigible;
and, though scattered, the Gray squadron drew away safely from the
Brown, which, slowing down, came on as straight as an arrow in
unchanged formation in a line over the castle tower. From the forward
Brown aeroplane, as its shadow shot over the garden, pursued by the
great, oblong shadows of the dirigibles, a white ball was dropped. It
made a plummet streak until about fifty feet above the earth, when it
exploded into a fine shower of powder, leaving intact a pirouetting bit
of white.

"I think that was Colonel Lanstron leading when he ought to leave such
work to his assistants," said Mrs. Galland. "You remember him--why, it
was the colonel who recommended you! There, now, I've forgotten again
that you are deaf!"

The slip of paper glided back and forth on slight currents of air and
finally fell among the rose-bushes a few yards from where the two were
standing. Feller brought it to Mrs. Galland.

"Yes, it was Colonel Lanstron," she said, after reading the message.
"The message says: 'Hello, Marta!' Any other officer would have said:
'How do you do, Miss Galland!' He could not have known that she was
away. I've just had a telegram from her that she will be home in the
morning, and that takes me back to my idea that I came to speak about to
you," she babbled on, while Feller regarded her with a gentle,
uncomprehending smile. "You know how she likes chrysanthemums and they
are in full bloom. We'll cut them and fill all the vases in the
living-room and her room and--oh, how I do forget! You're not hearing a
word!" she exclaimed as she noted the helpless eagerness of his eyes.

"It is a great nuisance, deafness