``Jolly good gliding angle,'' says someone; and another,
``Beautifully quick controls, what?'' and from yet another,
``By Jove! The Pilot must be sure of the machine. Look,
he's stopped the engine entirely.''
Then the Aeroplane with noiseless engine glides over
the boundary of the Aerodrome, and, with just a soft soughing
sound from the air it cleaves, lands gently not fifty yards from
the onlookers.
``Glad to see you,'' says the Squadron Commander to
the Pilot. ``How do you like the machine?'' And the
Pilot replies:
``I never want a better one, sir. It almost flies itself!''
And the Designer turns his face homewards and towards
his beloved drawing-office; well satisfied, but still dreaming
dreams of the future and . . . looking far ahead whom should
he see but Efficiency at last coming towards him! And to
him she is all things. In her hair is the morning sunshine;
her eyes hold the blue of the sky, and on her cheeks is the
pearly tint of the clouds as seen from above. The passion
of speed, the lure of space, the sense of power, and the
wonder of the future . . . all these things she holds for him.
``Ah!'' he cries. ``You'll never leave me now, when
at last there is no one between us?''
And Efficiency, smiling and blushing, but practical as
ever, says:
``And you will never throw those Compromises in my
face?''
``My dear, I love you for them! Haven't they been
my life ever since I began striving for you ten long years
ago?''
And so they walked off very happily, arm-in-arm together;
and if this hasn't bored you and you'd like some more of the
same sort of thing, I'd just love to tell you some day of the
wonderful things they accomplish together, and of what
they dream the future holds in store.
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