Linda had scarcely time to change from her flyer's suit into an afternoon dress, and no chance at all to talk with her father about Mr. Pitcairn's suggestion about a job, when Ralph Clavering drove over to see her. Linda was delighted, of course; here was another person to whom she could display her autogiro. Ralph was a licensed pilot, too, although with him flying was only a secondary interest, and he had never had his own plane.
"Come out and see my 'Ladybug'!" she insisted. "And wouldn't you like to try her out? I might let you!"
"No, thanks, Linda—I'd be sure to do something wrong. Besides, I'd rather talk to you—those things make such an infernal noise. No, just show it to me, and then let's go and have a game of tennis before supper, if you're not too tired."
"I've almost forgotten how to play," replied the girl. "But I'll try. If you will come out and see my 'Ladybug' first."
After they had examined the autogiro, and were driving to the Country Club in Ralph's roadster, the young man turned the conversation to the topic of vacation at Green Falls, the resort at which Linda's aunt, and most of her friends, had spent the preceding summer. Ralph told Linda about a new motor boat that he was getting, and spoke of the contests in all sorts of sports that would be repeated this year.
"How soon do you think you can get off, Linda?" he concluded eagerly.
"Not till August, I'm afraid," she replied, to his dismay.
"August!" he repeated, in horror. "You're not going to pull some new stunt on us, are you, Linda? Fly the Pacific—or the Arctic Ocean?"
The girl laughed, and shook her head.