Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/172

 one slim envelope that had possibilities. There was no chance that the stricken man upstairs could read it, so that Miss Miranda, without hesitation, tore the envelope open. Betsey and David watched her face intently as she read.

"It is what he wished for," she told them when she had finished. "Mr. Garven, the man to whom he wrote, seems to be much interested and even excited about the new machine, for he says that the gas turbine principle is one over which many people have been working, but no one with any success. He says that he will come to see it at any time that my father appoints." She refolded the letter slowly. "It is rather bitter," she added, with a trifle of a catch in the voice that had been so brave and steady until now, "rather bitter that this should have come by Donald's hand and just too late!"

"But it is not too late," Betsey protested with vehemence. "David can show this man the machine, he has helped your father and knows just how it should run. And I am sure that the news that the invention has been tested and proved a success would help to make Mr. Reynolds well again. Oh, do try it—do try it."

She was bouncing up and down on the doorstep in her enthusiasm over the plan. To her great delight David supported the idea heartily.

"There is no reason why any one who knows