"Louise won't go with you now, will she?"
"She fully expected to, when I said good-by to her at school. Of course her family may have changed their minds about letting her."
"I shouldn't think Mackay would permit such a thing!" asserted Ralph, masterfully.
"Pull yourself together, Ralph!" teased Linda. "This isn't Queen Victoria's time—when men say what women can or can't do!"
"Well, if she were my wife—or my fiancée——"
"Which she isn't! Come on, Ralph, let's dance. So you'll get over your grouch."
"It isn't a grouch. It's genuine worry.... Listen, Linda: if you're bound to fly to Paris, take me along with you, instead of Louise. Then at least we could die together."
"Don't be so morbid!" cried Linda. "Nobody's going to die. Besides, I couldn't take you. The whole point of the thing would be lost. The prize goes to the _girl_ or _girls_ who fly without a man's help."
"You could explain that I wasn't a help, only a hindrance," he suggested. "That I don't know half so much about piloting a plane as you do, and nothing at all about navigating it."
"No good, Ralph. Come on, let's dance, as I suggested before. And talk about something else. How you're going to entertain me tomorrow night, for instance."