"No, first you must tell me how you are! Are you all well again after that terrible accident?"
"Much better, but not quite all well," he replied. "I have to stay away from horses, I guess, for the rest of my life. I'm selling the ranch."
"Daddy!" There was the deepest sympathy in her voice; she knew how her father loved his out-door life, almost as much as she loved flying.
"Well, it wasn't paying anyhow. But sit down, dear, and tell me about yourself. I know you were at a party last night—the servants told me, for I haven't seen your Aunt Emily yet."
"Everything's just fine with me," Linda told him, as she sat down beside him and took a bunch of grapes. "It isn't the past I want to talk about, Daddy—it's the future."
"Of course, of course," murmured her father. "It's always the future with you.... Well, what's on your mind now?"
"I want to go to a ground school. I want to be a commercial pilot—maybe even a 'transport pilot,' the highest of all, you know. And a licensed mechanic." She tried to keep her voice calm, but her blue eyes were shining with excitement.
"What for?" inquired her father, smiling at the idea of a girl with ambitions like these.
"So that I can earn my living in aviation. I want to go in for it seriously, Daddy. Not just play!"
"You're afraid I won't be able to support you, later on?" he asked, half teasingly.