"Yes. Grab all the honors for myself! Just like Bess Hulbert. Pure selfishness on my part."
Her chum understood her real reason, however, and hugged her tightly in her joy.
"You are an angel, Linda! But I know you're capable of doing it, and I'm going to let you. And oh, I'll pray so hard for you to win! No girl ever deserved the honor half so much!"
As easily as that it was all settled, and Miss Carlton had to agree, once her brother gave his admiring consent. One concession, however, Linda made to her Aunt Emily and to Louise: she would come back from school the following week to be maid-of-honor at the wedding, just as she had promised. With this agreement Linda returned by train to St. Louis a day or so later.
The first person she met at the ground school was Mr. Eckers, her friendly instructor. He was grinning broadly.
"Well, Miss Carlton, we've been having some excitement, eh, what?" he remarked, as he shook hands with her.
"I should say so," agreed Linda. "I thought my plans were all smashed to pieces."
"Funniest thing I ever heard of. But so fool-hardy. As if a man could carry off a thing like that!"
"Well, it has been done before you know," Linda reminded him. "Look at that famous Frenchman—Deon de Beaumont—who masqueraded as a woman for so long, and fooled everybody."
"True," admitted Mr. Eckers, who besides being an expert pilot, was a well-educated man. "And wasn't it funny the way the King punished him!"