Gale was in a temper. Bruce had added the final touch to a smouldering conflagration. He was not the first one to remark on how she was neglecting her studies, but his words had burst the dam of resentment that had been welling up within her. She was angry that he should try to tell her what to do. His patronizing tone had set her aflame with self-justification. She tramped along, her eyes stormy, looking neither to the right nor left. When Bruce stepped quietly into pace beside her she did not look at him.
Gradually her temper abated somewhat. She could hear a few remaining birds singing in the fields to her right. Birds preparing to fly south before the long months of winter. The last rays of the afternoon sun were warm. She stole a cautious look at Bruce. He was watching the clouds overhead. Clouds like giant white sailboats on an ocean of azure blue. She frowned but this time not at him, at herself. After all she needn’t have snapped at him the way she did. He was only trying to give her some good advice.
“Bruce——” she began slowly.
He smiled at her. “I know,” he said, “forget it.”
The rest of the walk to her home was covered in complete harmony.
After dinner Gale drove with her father out to the airport. The Silver Arrow was standing in the white light of the field. The searchlight circled slowly. Numerous planes stood near the shelter of the hangars.
Mr. Howard had to interview a witness for a court case he was presenting. It was important that he do it as soon as possible and when Brent had volunteered to fly him to Quebec Mr. Howard accepted gladly. At first he had refused to consider taking Gale along but his daughter had finally coaxed permission from him.
Gleefully Gale climbed into the cockpit and squeezed into a tiny corner while her father took his place beside her. Up ahead Brent manipulated the controls. Stubby was at the propeller.
“Contact!”
The call was borne back to Gale on the wind. The propeller spun around. Slowly the plane taxied across the field, rising gently in the face of the wind. Once Brent circled the field, the bright lights, people and planes below them like a miniature city, then he streaked away into the north.