AN UNFORTUNATE AVIATOR

It was an unusual entertainment that David had provided for his little circle of intimate friends in the old orchard surrounding the Omnibus House.  There was a look of intense excitement in his eyes, as he stood awaiting his guests, the following afternoon.  Mrs. Gray had already arrived, and, leaving her carriage to wait for her near the entrance, now stood by David and helped him receive.

“It’s good to see all my children together again,” she exclaimed, giving Anne a gentle hug; for ever since her Christmas house party she had acquired a sort of proprietary feeling toward these young people.  “I only wish Tom Gray were to be with us to-day.  I should like him to have a share in the surprise; for you may be sure there is to be a surprise.  David would never have asked us to this lonely place for nothing.”

“David is a good old reliable, Mrs. Gray,” cried Hippy.  “Certainly if I had imagined for a moment that he would disappoint us, I never should have dragged my slight frame all this distance.”

“Good, loyal old Hippy,” replied David.  “The surprise is ready, but even if it had not been, there is no exercise so beneficial to stout people as walking.”

“Well, bring it on, bring it on,” exclaimed Reddy.  “We are waiting patiently.”

“Curb your impatience, Sorrel Top,” said David.  “Just follow me, and see what I have to show you.”

They helped little Mrs. Gray, who was nimble in spite of her years, through a broken gap in the wall of the Omnibus House.  The old ruin was more picturesque than, ever in its cloak of five-leafed ivy which the autumn had touched with red and gold.  A lean-to had been built against the back wall of the building, fitted with a stout door on the inside and a pair of doors on the outside.

“I rented this plot of land from the farmer who owns the orchard,” explained David, taking a key from his pocket and opening the door in the stone wall.  “This was about the best place I could think of for experiments, partly because it’s such a lonesome place, and partly because there is a clear open space of several hundred yards back here without a tree or bush on it.”

It was dark inside until he had opened the double doors in the opposite wall, when the slanting light showed them an aeroplane; not a little gymnasium model this time, but a full-fledged flying machine, a trim and graceful object, even at close view.

“David,” cried Anne joyously, “you don’t mean to say you’ve gone and done it at last?”

“I have,” answered David gravely; “and I’ve made two trips with pretty good success each time.”

Then everyone talked at once.  David was the hero of the hour.

“David, my dear boy,” cried Mrs. Gray.  “To think that I should live to see you an aviator!”

“I’m a long way from being one, yet, Mrs. Gray,” answered David.  “My bird doesn’t always care to fly.  There are times when she’d rather stay in her nest with her wings folded.  Of course, I haven’t nearly perfected her yet, so I don’t want it mentioned in town until I get things in shape.  But I couldn’t wait until then to show it to you, my dear friends, because you were all interested in it last year.”