Corinne and Henry what was passing through my mind, but I feared their mockery, especially as the person was still a stranger to me...

"Win" returned the next day, about five o'clock in the evening, and when dinner-time drew near and no move came from him, Corinne had no choice but to invite him to take dinner with us, and he accepted with thanks... At the end of that evening I knew that I had fallen into a sweeping love from which there was no deliverance for me... And my attraction to him grew the more he enlarged upon flying and the magic of the air and the modern discoveries... I would listen to him and soar on the wings of fancy, as though I were hearing one of the legends of the Thousand and One Nights.

But flying and its sweetness were mingled with a great tragedy, for an aviator's family never knows when word of his death may reach it; and those who lived near the airfield were accustomed to witnessing dozens of disasters in the course of every year, their victims falling dead in flight or in landing — but that only made me cling to him the more... One of my kinswomen afterward described our marriage by saying: You knew that your union with Win was mere curiosity and nothing more!

In this very period I discovered Win's jealousy; even so, I would go out with some of his friends to the beach, or dancing, or accompany him to the house of one of his friends, and I paid that jealousy no heed when at last I resolved upon marriage...

I do not remember exactly what my answer to him was, only that I know full well that I had to consult Uncle "Sol" and my mother; as for him, he was confident that the final answer rested with my heart... and it had already become wholly his!!

With her first husband, the aviator "Win"

My visit was fated to end within a month, but now I began to wait, hoping the days would not end whose minutes brought me together with "Win" and drew me near to him, that I might study his nature and what lay hidden in his breast, and observe his habits and his silences; and in all of that my heart would tremble, and my soul grow tender with joy... I learned that he had grown up in Chicago and been graduated from "Annapolis" in 1910, that he had studied flying during his service in the American fleet and excelled in his art; and after the "Pensacola" station was completed, he joined the corps of aviators there... He had reached twenty-seven years of age...

And "Win's" gay nature was a strange one: it would sometimes turn head over heels, and he would sink away into a wave of silent, resentful hysteria. When my dance with a friend went on too long, or when I bantered with a comrade of his... I would come back to find him hunched over the

table, not uttering a word... And I had not experience enough of the natures of men to know that the closed side of his self was the strongest thing in his personality, and that one day it would wreak its violence upon him and upon the life we tried to build together.

After two months I returned home, and Win brought me to the station with Corinne; I shall never forget my embarrassment when I held out my hand to shake his in farewell: he drew me to him off the steps and kissed me boldly, heedless of Corinne's presence, then said: I shall spend the summer holiday in Baltimore... and I await the final answer from you... I bowed my head... and the din of the train swallowed me up.

On my arrival I found two letters awaiting me; my mother carried them, saying:

They are from the greatest aviator in creation... I had told my mother of my attachment to Win in my letters... And as soon as the spirit of jesting faded she said: Are you prepared to face the blows that befall aviators?... Have you thought that you might become a widow in the second week of your wedding?... Have you thought of the unsettled life you will spend at his side, without rest?... to say nothing of the meager pay,