"Yes. That was too bad, but I can't see that it was in any way your fault. You'd be a queer flyer if you didn't want to test your knowledge."
"Then you don't really blame me?" she asked eagerly. Her father's approval had always meant so much to her.
"Of course not. It was the boy's carelessness. He agrees with me, and so do his father and mother. I went over to see them last night."
"Ralph hasn't heard anything more, has he?" she asked anxiously. How she longed for news of Ted! But she was afraid to mention his name to her father.
Mr. Carlton, however, answered her unspoken wish.
"No," he said. "We drove over to see Mackay at the hospital this morning, and tried to talk to him. But he wouldn't admit a thing. He became hysterical when we accused him, and the nurse had to ask us to go away. We're as much in the dark as ever."
Linda got up quietly and went over to a chair. Somehow she wouldn't sit on her father's lap when he held such widely different opinions from her own. But Mr. Carlton did not seem to notice that she had gone. He sat perfectly still, thinking.
"You really believe Ted—Mr. Mackay—had a part in the horrible thing?" she asked, dismally.