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diff --git a/old/69655-0.txt b/old/69655-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6e575ce..0000000 --- a/old/69655-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9629 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gay Lawless, by Helen Mathers - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Gay Lawless - -Authors: Helen Mathers - Phil Reeves - -Release Date: December 29, 2022 [eBook #69655] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GAY LAWLESS *** - - - - - - - -[Illustration: Cover art] - - - - - - GAY LAWLESS - - - BY - - HELEN MATHERS - - _Author of - "Comin' thro' the Rye," "Pigskin and Petticoat," "Bam Wildfire," - "Griff of Griffithscourt," "Love, the Thief," etc._ - - - AND - - PHIL REEVES - - - _FOURTH EDITION_ - - - LONDON - STANLEY PAUL & CO. - 1 CLIFFORD'S INN, TEMPLE BAR, E.C. - - - - - CONTENTS - - CHAP. - - I. INIGO COURT - II. A MAN OF SCIENCE - III. "TROTTING _VERSUS_ RACING" - IV. "A RACING MAN" - V. TWO GIRLS - VI. AT KEMPTON - VII. THE ESCAPADE - VIII. GAY TRIUMPHANT - IX. AT THE "TROTTING NAG" - X. THE NOTORIOUS GAY - XI. GAY DISPOSES - XII. RENSSLAER _PACE_ MACKRELL - XIII. SANDOWN GRAND MILITARY - XIV. A BEAUTIFUL CASE - XV. THE GOLD VASE - XVI. GAY DISGRACES HERSELF - XVII. TWO LOVERS - XVIII. MIN TO THE RESCUE - XIX. "FIGHTING" GAY - XX. A TICKLISH MOMENT - XXI. AUNT LAVINIA - XXII. KING OF THE ROAD - XXIII. AT ELSINORE - XXIV. AN EQUINE PARADISE - XXV. THE TUG-OF-WAR - XXVI. CARLTON'S "LITTLE BILL" - XXVII. A _MODUS VIVENDI_ - XXVIII. THE EPIC OF THE HORSE - XXIX. LOVE OR STEEPLECHASING? - XXX. TOO LATE! - XXXI. A DEBT OF HONOUR - XXXII. DEAD SEA APPLES - XXXIII. THE GODS DECIDE - - - - -GAY LAWLESS - - - -CHAPTER I - -INIGO COURT - -"It's the prettiest sport in the world," declared Gay Lawless. "I -think Mr. Mackrell _just_ got up, don't you, Chris?" - -The man looked at his companion amusedly. - -"I hope so, but I'm no judge of _this_ game, you know." There was a -shade of contempt in his voice. - -Gay's eyes were fixed on the number board, and she clapped her hands -when No. 6 was hoisted. - -"He's won all right," she said; "he is having his horse cooled out." -Then she had time to remember the sneer in Chris's voice. - -"Of course I know you're mad on steeple-chasing," she said, tilting -her nose in the air, "but you needn't be bigoted; it's not the only -sport, and anyhow you can't deny that Mr. Mackrell can drive; almost -as well as you can ride," she concluded generously. - -Chris bowed. - -"Carlton Mackrell is a brilliant whip," he agreed, though he made a -mental note that it was about the only thing Mackrell could do. -"Let's go and congratulate him." - -They left the members' enclosure, and made their way by the side of -the track to the stables, where they found Carlton Mackrell talking -to one of his swipes. He came to meet them, and his dark face showed -the pleasure he felt at Gay Lawless' congratulations. - -"Thank you," he said, "I expected to win my heat. Did you back my -horse?" - -"Of course," cried the girl. "Evidently others besides you expected -Billy Q. to win, for everyone was backing him. Although I got in -early, I had to lay five to two on, to five shillings," she laughed. -"It doesn't take very much money to paralyse the market, does it?" - -Carlton Mackrell shook his head. - -"No," he said, "the sight of gold creates a panic, and an owner does -not dare back his horse personally, unless he's prepared to lay odds -on what very often is not an even money chance. The ring think the -business is inspired, you know," he laughed, "and begin to pinch the -price at once. However, as I don't bet, it doesn't affect me, though -I like my friends to help themselves whenever I run anything." - -He turned to Chris Hannen, who was attentively studying a big bay -horse with the eye of a connoisseur. "You don't often come trotting, -do you?" he asked. - -The two men had known each other for years, but the fact that they -both admired Gay Lawless had not strengthened their friendship very -considerably. Still both were sportsmen, and, appreciated each -other's talents in their respective branches with a genuineness not -met with outside sporting circles. - -"No," Chris replied, glancing at Gay from the corner of a twinkling -eye, "in fact, this is my first appearance on a track." - -"And your last, I should imagine. You don't look supremely happy," -and Mackrell laughed. - -"That's a poor compliment to me, Mr. Mackrell," Gay said -mischievously; "you forget Mr. Hannen is on escort duty. It's quite -by chance he is here, but, as you know, I'm stopping at Flytton for a -few days, and Mr. Hannen walked over from Epsom--'wasting' he calls -it." - -She looked reproachfully at Chris. "There's one advantage about -trotting, anyhow--you haven't to be perpetually worrying about your -weight, or live on lemons, and tea, and gin!" She made a little -face. "You must carry 10 stones 10 lbs. in a sulky, mustn't -you--that's the minimum?" - -"Yes, quite right," Mackrell assented, "that enables most men to -drive themselves, though a lot employ professionals. I can't see any -fun in the game, unless one drives one's own horses. Let's go back, -and watch the next heat. It's a handicap, you know, one for what the -horse owners call "pigs," he explained. Then his face grew serious. -"It's a pity some good men don't take up trotting; there's no -prettier sport (unconsciously echoing Gay's opinion), and its very -much maligned because people don't understand it, and think that -_because_ it's trotting, it must necessarily be all crooked. I don't -think there's much more finessing at it than in horse-racing, if the -truth were known, do you, Hannen?" - -"I daresay not," Chris replied guardedly, "though a lot of nonsense -is talked about racing, and the rascality of the turf, by people who -have never been near a racecourse, and who judge racing-men as a body -from the isolated cases in the papers, in which an absconding -bank-clerk pleads betting as an excuse for defalcation!" - -"Too true," said Gay, "and--why, there's my dear old nurse in that -dogcart! I _must_ speak to her--you two go on," and she made her way -quickly to the trap, which contained a jolly, good-natured-looking -woman, whose get-up betokened an almost too great prosperity. - -Gay's grey eyes sparkled with fun and pleasure as she came alongside, -keeping just out of the line of her old nurse's view. - -"Min!" she cried - -The occupant of the dogcart turned in her seat so suddenly, as to -seriously disturb the balance of the shafts on the rail. - -"Miss Gay!" she cried. "Well, I _am_ surprised! Fancy meeting you -here!" In a moment she was out of the cart, and had folded Gay to -her ample bosom, while laughter and tears chased each other -alternately across her comely face. Gay, for her part, was every bit -as delighted to see her old nurse again, and quite oblivious of the -scene about them, they climbed into the dogcart and sat, holding each -other's hands, and chattering as only two women can. A great deal of -what they talked about was of interest to nobody but themselves, but -the horses racing past recalled Gay to the work in hand. - -"Isn't it exciting, Min?" she cried, focussing her glasses as they -sped past the stands, and round the bend to the back stretch. "I -think it's ripping, and far more fun than galloping. _What_ a smash -there'd be if one of these sulkies--isn't that what they call the -spider-looking thing they sit in?--ran into each other!" - -But Min did not reply. Her eyes were riveted on the cluster of -horses drawing round the corner into the home-stretch. - -"I think we've won this," she exclaimed. Then becoming excited she -began to bounce about in her seat. - -"Go on, Bob!" she cried. "Set him alight! Oh, don't look round, -it's all your own!" - -Suddenly, fifty yards from the judges' stand, one of the back-markers -came with a rattle wide on the outside, the driver urging his horse -with the reins, and uttering weird cries which his charge apparently -understood, for he put in all his knew, though, alas! he failed to -"keep down," as they call it, and made a tangled break. Meantime Bob -was going the shortest way home, sitting slightly forward, with his -legs straight out in front of him like the rest. - -A roar from the ring proclaimed the expected victory of yet another -favourite. Min sank back in her seat, and her eyes shone with pride -as she said: - -"Bob just got there, miss; didn't he drive splendid?" - -"Rather!" agreed Gay cordially. "But who's Bob?" - -"Why, Bob's my man, Miss Gay, of course! Who else should he be?" - -"Is he your husband?" Gay asked, laughing. "I knew you were married, -dear Min, but I didn't know your husband's name. Do introduce me." - -"Of course I will, miss, and feel honoured," Min replied proudly. - -Soon after, she waved to her husband as he walked back along the -course; he handed over his horse and sulky to a lad walking with him, -and ducking under the rails, made his way to his wife, Min fairly -beamed with pride as she said: - -"Well done, Bob! What was the time?" - -Bob gave it, hugely gratified, though glancing curiously at Gay, as -she sat smiling bewitchingly down on him. - -"This is me husband, miss," Min said affectionately. "Mr. Bob -Toplady, Miss Lawless." - -Gay held out her hand to the big, jolly man. - -"How do you do?" she said. "I am so pleased you won that heat, and -I'm so glad, too, to see dear Min again." - -"Thank you, miss," said Bob, rapidly recovering his equanimity under -Gay's unaffected enthusiasm. "I thought I was caught just close -home, but when I saw the other break, I knew it was all my own. Not -that his breaking was enough to disqualify him, you know, miss," he -explained; "he didn't do enough for that, but because I've raced with -that horse before, and I knew he was a bad breaker." - -Gay listened with all her ears, though Bob's arguments did not seem -conclusive. Still, she thought, there's plenty of time to learn, and -she would remember that, and ask Carlton Mackrell. - -"How interesting!" she said. "Did you win a lot of money?" - -Min laughed. - -"Not a lot to you, Miss Gay," she said, "but enough to buy me a new -hat, and a bit over. It's only a heat, you understand, miss," she -went on to explain, "and worth five pounds to the winner. But the -final is forty pounds, and I think we shall just about win to-day, -shan't we, Bob?" - -"I hope so, my dear," he replied, "but the pacer that took the first -heat is a bit useful, and I know they're backing him outright. A -hobbled pacer has a great advantage over a trotter, especially on -this uneven track." - -"I must really be off now," announced Gay, turning to embrace Min -once more. "I'll certainly come and see you, and your husband must -tell me some more about trotting. I have a great mind to buy some -horses myself, and run them--though I suppose they wouldn't let me -drive, would they?" disappointedly. - -"Lor, Miss Gay, what a sportsman you are!" exclaimed Mrs. Toplady. -"Good-bye, and be sure to let me know when I can have my little bit -on yours." - -"My horses will invariably be 'out,'" Gay answered, with a -mischievous attempt at dignity. "As Mr. Hannen would say, they will -always be 'at it.' Good-bye!" - -Gay made her way to where Chris was leaning over the rails, and with -sparkling eyes confided to him that she was greatly enjoying herself. -When she added that she thought of going in for the game herself, -Chris gave a long, reflective whistle. - -"I expected it," was all he said. Perhaps his thoughts flashed to -Carlton Mackrell, and of how much more Gay would be thrown into his -society for the future, and he remained silent till they regained the -members' enclosure. - -"What will your brother say?" he asked. - -"Frank? Oh, he won't be consulted! I don't suppose he'd mind, -though, so long as I am about the place to look after him. And he -_does_ want such a lot of looking after too, Chris; you've no idea, -he's just like a child, and simply lost away from his books and -specimens. Oh! those dreadful specimens"--she shuddered--"he _will_ -show them to me, and he leaves them about in the most impossible -places, and I _do_ get such shocks sometimes!" - -"He's a clear old chap," said Chris, "and not so very old after all, -is he? He can't be, taking a line through you, you know," lapsing -into racing metaphor. - -"He's years older than his real age, if you can understand what I -mean," Gay laughed, "and I'm no chicken, you know, Chris--twenty-two -next birthday!" - -"You'll never grow old," he replied. "I've known you some years now, -and you haven't changed a bit." - -"Not for the better, anyhow, so Frank says," the girl answered. - -"Frank's no judge," said Chris sharply, with more feeling in his -voice than he usually showed, but Gay didn't seem to notice. - -"Here comes Mr. Mackrell," she said, as a sulky swept past, going -round the track for a warm up, before the second bell rang for the -drivers to get on their marks. - -Chris looked on without any interest. - -"Take 'em out of those beetle-traps, and put a few fences across the -course, then you might see something worth looking at," was his -private opinion of trotting, yet the pacer's speed is founded on the -camel's, and weedy and lanky as he is, no one who has seen either a -trotter or a pacer fully extended in a race, especially if he has -watched it coming straight at him, will deny that he is hardly less -beautiful when in motion, than miserable-looking when he stands -inactive. - -A few minutes later, the second bell rang, and the drivers proceeded -to their respective marks, some in receipt of a start, others giving -one. Carlton Mackrell was on the back mark; the horse he was driving -was amongst the fastest milers in England, and his form was fully -exposed, with the result that he never improved appreciably on his -handicap, as he was always trying, and frequently too close to the -winner (often thrown in on previous "judicious form") to be -re-handicapped. - -The aim of all the drivers was to poach a start, and they turned, and -came up to their marks with the pace up, so that at the sound of the -"off" bell their horses were in their stride. The flag-man opposite -each, raised his flag the moment the horse he was watching was on his -mark, and lowered it when he had overstepped it. - -After five or six attempts, "Uncle," the starter, with his finger on -the trigger of his revolver, saw that all the flags were raised at -the same time, and in a second, bang! and they were off. Gay's eyes -were fixed on Carlton Mackrell. - -"He's well away," she announced eagerly. - -There were few better hands at getting off smartly than Mackrell, and -he was always fairly going as he reached his distance, timing to a -nicety the manœuvrings of his rivals in front. - -"That's the one advantage of being 'scratch,'" he always said, "you -can see what the others are doing." - -In the first round he caught four of the leaders, though one, a -hobbled pacer under saddle, ridden by a small boy, with a start of -fifty yards, was apparently keeping it. Going round the back stretch -the second time, Carlton Mackrell set his horse going, and began to -go after the leader. Approaching the straight, shouts of "Billy Q." -and "Sam Sly" rent the air, while the two horses were home-locked -together. - -Those who knew Carlton Mackrell's style of driving, however, and how -he liked to come with a rush on the post, slipped down off the stand -and backed him. Twenty yards from the post--too late, it appeared to -Gay, who was exhorting him under her breath to "go on"--he made his -effort. It was all over in a few strides, and Billy Q. had won. - -Gay walked to the gate of the enclosure, followed by Chris, and -waited while Carlton Mackrell got down. In a few minutes the flag -was hung out of the judge's box and the "all right" shouted to the -ring. Emerging from the stable, he handed his rugged-up winner to an -attendant, and slipping on his overcoat, he walked along the track, -his eyes on the ground, thinking, not of his recent triumph, but of -Gay Lawless. By nature a most undemonstrative man, he rarely showed -visibly any emotion, either on the course or in private, but his -colour rose as he thought what a good sort Gay was, what a pal she'd -make to the right man. But who was the right man? Had he arrived -yet, and if so, was he personified in Chris Hannen, or had he, -Carlton Mackrell, any chance? He started, as close at hand Gay's -soft, clear voice exclaimed: - -"Well done again, Mr. Mackrell! You drew it rather fine, though, -didn't you? I thought you wouldn't quite get there, and I was so -excited." - -Carlton stopped, his features breaking into one of those rare smiles -that transformed his dark, handsome face. - -"I always like to make a race of it, you know," he replied. "You -see, I know my horses so well; nobody drives them but me, even in -their work, and my wrist-watch"--he held his arm up--"tells me -exactly how fast I am going, and if my horse keeps to his home time -for the quarter and half miles, I know I shall be thereabouts at the -finish." - -Gay's eyes sparkled. - -"I _have_ enjoyed to-day so much," she said, "and I'm regularly -bitten with trotting. It's _much_ prettier to watch than -racing--even over fences"--she glanced saucily at Chris--"and, Mr. -Mackrell, I'll let you into a secret--I mean to buy some horses, and -go in for the game! Will you help me choose them, or let me know -when anything good comes into the market?" - -Mackrell looked earnestly at the girl's eager face, then he glanced -quickly at Chris. That gentleman's face expressed no opinion, -presenting the stoic indifference that characterised equally his -riding of a winner, or another disappointment. - -"This is hardly a lady's game, you know," Mackrell protested, "and, -fond as I am of it, I could not recommend you to take it up -seriously. The surroundings are not quite of the same class as Ascot -or Goodwood, you know, and you would be an isolated instance." - -"Wear your plainest clothes, no ornaments, and bring no money with -you," had been Carlton's significant instructions when Gay had -expressed a wish to attend a trotting meeting--and who could possibly -have expected that horses, everything, would appear to her under a -rose-hued glamour that assuredly they did not possess? Gay did not -notice the component elements of the crowd, as Chris did--the weather -was dazzling, the sun cozened, illumined the scene, and with a lover -on either side of her to make things pleasant, the novelty of -everything intoxicated her. Trotting showed to her in most -attractive guise, and very differently to how it did later. - -"I don't care," she said wilfully, "I'm fond of it, and I mean to do -it, so _that's_ settled. If you give me the benefit of your -experiences"--she turned to Carlton--"I shall be grateful, and I -won't be more of a nuisance than I can help." - -Carlton Mackrell bowed. - -"You could never be a nuisance," he said gravely, "and my advice is -always at your command." - -Almost immediately after he left them, and full of her delightful -project, escorted by Chris Hannen, Gay Lawless left the pretty little -racecourse. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -A MAN OF SCIENCE - -Professor Lawless was a scientist, and, as is common among professors -and scientists, very eccentric. A Bachelor of Medicine, he had -practised as much or as little as pleased him, and devoted most of -his time to the materialisation of experiments that, if perfected, -would make his fortune. - -Not that it was with this end in view that he laboured, for his means -were considerable, and it was his custom to give his services and -advice to patients gratis in the majority of cases, although his -sister Gay was no advocate of this practice. - -"Why don't you put up a notice with "Free Hospital" on it over the -door, and have done with the farce of refusing to take fees from -people who can well afford them?" she used to ask indignantly. "You -forget that it cost a heap of money during the five years you were -learning the little you now know"--she laughed, for he was really a -walking encyclopædia of learning--"and do you intend to get none of -it back?" - -Her brother would beam at her through the glasses that were eternally -slipping off his nose. - -"You are too commercial, Gay," he said. "None of us are infallible, -and it would pain me to think that I had taken money for what might, -after all, have been a mistaken diagnosis. I have ample means for my -wants--which are simple--and I disapprove strongly of the tactics -employed by some medical men in accepting fees for ailments which are -often imaginary, and more often curable by fresh air and exercise -than drugs and knives." - -"Oh, you're hopeless," Gay rejoined, and there the argument ended for -the time being, much to the Professor's satisfaction. - -A remarkably handsome and intellectual-looking man, tall, but with a -slight stoop, and with far-away, clear blue eyes that narrowed -habitually whenever he looked at anything, possibly through years of -close microscopic work, Frank Lawless had a personality (if an untidy -one, as Gay said) that compelled people to ask, "Who is that man?" - -He seldom left his laboratory and books, though occasionally Gay -prevailed upon him to accompany her to some function or other, when -he donned a dress-suit of archaic pattern, and, after spoiling a -dozen ties, and wandering miserably in and out of his sister's room -to ask if "this will do?" waited patiently in the hall, with an -obsolete opera-hat held gingerly in one hand, the while he read from -a scientific treatise held close to his eyes in the other. - -A habit of standing first on one leg, and then on the other, had -earned him the nickname of "Heron," and it was thus disrespectfully, -but affectionately, that his sister usually addressed him. A man of -unbounded possibilities, but indifferent achievements, only a total -lack of ambition and enterprise prevented his rolling the ball still -at his feet, but, as it was, he had never improved on the fame that -came to him when quite a young man. - -"The first man in England on his subject," was what his colleagues -said of him, "but doesn't seem to push his opportunities; nice -fellow, too!" while Frank Lawless himself, after a merciless tirade -from Gay, would remark: - -"My dear, I have used my brains to the best of my ability. My name -is not unknown, and there are some eminent men who seek my opinion -still, and value it. I do not wish to become a public character--to -be obscure is to be happy--why not leave me to the work I love? I do -not remember an instance in which I have interfered with you, though -I must confess that some of your exploits--notably hunting, a -practice I detest--have caused me some anxiety. Live and let live, -my child," and waving a hand that clasped a test-tube, the Professor -would flee to the safety of the laboratory, to which haven Gay never -intruded, the smells were too awful, she said. - -Since the death of their parents, Gay had taken up her abode with her -brother in London. The girl was really very fond of him, and though -they had few tastes in common, she thought it her duty, as well as -her pleasure, to look after him, and, as she expressed it, "dress and -wash him up generally." - -The arrangement answered admirably. Gay was free as air to go where -she liked, and do what she pleased, while the Professor followed his -own pursuits, and took a secret delight in being well taken care of, -without having to suffer the infliction of a wife. - -In fact, so secure did he feel under existing circumstances, that the -prospect of their interruption sometimes occurred to him with an -unpleasant shock, and the possibility of his sister marrying appalled -him. He consoled himself, however, with the reflection that she -seemed in no hurry, and no one could accuse him of attempting to -cross bridges before he met them; his character was rather the -reverse, in fact, his impulse being to walk round any obstacle that -presented itself, or if this proved impossible, to confront it -sideways, and wait till either it removed itself, or someone--usually -Gay--came to the rescue. - -This disinclination to show a bold front to however trivial a -difficulty, was the twin trait to his lack of ambition, and his -attitude was pathetic when a worldly problem faced him, for he could -no more reprimand or dismiss a worthless servant, than he could in -cold blood destroy one of his cherished specimens. - -"She does her best, poor thing!" It was thus he one day mildly -excused an obstreperous and drunken cook, who had "held up" the whole -household. "It must be very trying to stand over a fire all day, you -know, and, er--she's only a little excited, is she?" - -"She's drunk," Gay said emphatically. "She went for Sanders with the -rolling-pin just now. I want you to see her, and tell her that if -she's not out of the house, bag and baggage, in an hour, you'll send -for the police." - -This was, of course, a joke, but Gay spoke so seriously, and appeared -so much in earnest, that the Professor felt in immediate danger of -participating in a scene, and looked all the fright he felt. - -"Of course, my dear, if you think a man's--and a firm man's (the -Professor looked more like a jelly just then)--intervention is -desirable, I will speak to the cook, and if necessary (he squared his -champagne shoulders, and Gay almost laughed as she fancied she heard -something crack) I will show her the door." - -He looked supplicatingly at Gay, and sidled towards the nearest exit -himself. - -"If you want me," he continued hurriedly, "I shall be in my -laboratory; I am in the middle of a very delicate experiment," and -with the last words, his coat-tails vanished round the corner. Gay -smiled as she heard the laboratory door hastily closed, and the key -turned. - -"Old funk!" she said elegantly. "Afraid of his own shadow! I do -believe he'd rather be run over than hold up his hand, for fear of -hurting the motor-man's feelings!" - -Then she laughed, and proceeded downstairs to tackle the cook herself. - -The breakfast-room in Connaught Square was a pleasant apartment, and -on the morning after the Trotting Meeting, when Frank had finished -breakfast, and taken up his customary morning attitude before the -fire, Gay leaned her elbows on the table, framed her pretty, fresh -face in the hollow of her hands, and opened the ball. - -"Frank, dear," she said, "I have something to tell you." - -The Professor passed his hand lightly over his face, touching it in -three places. He always did this when his attention was required, -and many people thought he was crossing himself, and unjustly -suspected him of ritualistic tendencies. - -"Yes, my dear?" he inquired. "Nothing unpleasant, I hope?" Turning -to the glass he looked apprehensively at his sister's reflection, and -was discomfited when she caught him. - -"Quite the reverse," she said. "It's this: I'm going to buy and race -some Trotting horses!" - -And now, thought she, for a homily on sport and the evils of the -turf! But she was disappointed. - -"Why specify the horse with a superfluous adjective?" he inquired. -"All horses trot, don't they? It is their natural pace--or one of -them. Try to be accurate, my dear girl." - -Gay laughed pityingly. - -"Trotting horses are a distinct breed, old boy," she said, "and they -trot against each other for prizes; _trot_, you understand, or -pace--there are square-gaited horses--those that trot like a -cab-horse, only faster, you know--and pacers, which move both legs on -the same side in unison. Like this, you know"--she got up from her -chair, and tried to illustrate her meaning by walking across the -room, moving the right arm and right leg together, repeating the -performance on the left side. - -Frank Lawless looked on with suddenly awakened scientific interest. - -"I was under the impression that only giraffes moved in that way," he -said. "Surely horses cannot go very fast with an action like that?" - -"Fast enough to do a mile in one minute fifty-five seconds or less, -anyway," Gay replied. "It is such a pretty sight to watch, they wear -such funny boots sometimes, and hobbles and sheepskins, -and--and--things," she finished lamely for want of more knowledge -regarding pacers' equipment. - -"Ah, yes, quite so," Frank Lawless agreed, "but--er--racing, you -know. My experience of it has been limited, I confess, (the -Professor's knowledge of racing was confined to two or three -occasional turfites who came to him professionally), but I am given -to understand that its followers are, to say the least of it, -unscrupulous. I am not a prig, Gay, but I have seen life in my -time"--he looked at himself knowingly in the glass, while Gay laughed -inwardly--"and I flatter myself I am a man of the world, therefore I -fear I cannot give my consent to your proposal." - -The last remark was uttered with all the timidity of an assumed -authority, and as he spoke, he lapsed into the one-legged attitude -which had earned him his nickname. - -"My proposal, as you call it, is a foregone conclusion, dear Heron," -Gay answered smartly, "and with all sisterly respect for you, I would -remark that I invariably make up my mind--both our minds -sometimes--beforehand, and acquaint you with the result after. -Carlton Mackrell has promised me his assistance and advice, and as -soon as I can get hold of a few good horses, I mean to start. The -Trotting season's young yet--perhaps later on, as a special treat, -I'll take you to see a race." - -"Mr. Mackrell?" he said irritably. "Well, well, a rich idler is -bound to take up some fad, I suppose--but why be a sporting man, -without two ideas in your head? An interesting animal, no doubt, of -the same type as your friend, Chris Hannen, but-- - -"Oh," cried Gay with spirit, for she resented the sneer, "it's these -'interesting animals,' as you are pleased to call them, from the -lofty heights of ineffectual science, who do the work of the world, -the work that counts. It is the sportsmen of England who know how to -rise to an emergency, and overcome it, old boy--these very same -brainless men whom you so contemptuously patronise, by their pluck -and determination, form the very bulwark of England when fighting has -to be done!" - -"But I fail to see any object in sport," reiterated her brother -obstinately, "especially horse-racing and--er--Trotting matches. -Where does it lead to, and what good purpose does it serve?" - -"It improves the breed of a noble animal, and teaches the men who -ride it self-reliance and resource," Gay flashed back, "to say -nothing of making them _hard_--a soft man is every decent woman's -abomination!" - -The Professor shifted his feet uneasily, and glanced at his watch; it -was his invariable rule to run away when getting the worst of an -argument. He had no power to hinder Gay from making ducks and drakes -of her two thousand a year, and he sighed as he reflected that she -was already more than a little original in some of her ideas and -speech; but he also knew that the charm of the girl overshadowed all -else, and that whatever she said or did, seldom drew forth a more -severe censure than "Oh, that's Gay Lawless all over, you know," from -anyone whose opinion mattered. - -Gay, in fact, possessed a soul which she described as "superior to -public opinion or example--good or bad, especially good," and so long -as what she said and did harmed no one, and she performed such duties -as her station required of her, she felt answerable to none. - -When he had left the room with his usual silent shuffle, the girl, -quite unconscious of the pretty picture she made, talked -confidentially to her reflection in the glass. - -"Awful pity dear old Frank isn't more of an outdoor man," she said -aloud, then her face grew serious as she remembered the fate of her -four other brothers, all killed in the open, two fighting, and two in -search of adventure. - -"He's the only one of us all without the sporting instinct, and -what's worse, is bigoted against every kind of sport for others. He -can't help his nature, I suppose; but oh! I _do_ wish he could -understand all that the sight of the country, and growing things, and -horses mean to me!" - -Unconsciously Gay for a long time had felt the want of a sympathetic -companion, or, as she would have expressed it, a pal, for, fond as -she was of her brother, he was not an ideal listener when she lived -over again a great run to hounds, or described a spirited game of -polo at Hurlingham. - -He always accorded her that polite inattention which checks -confidences, and freezes enthusiasm, and Lossie Holden, Gay's cousin -and enforced intimate, loathed sport in every shape and form, while -Effie Bulteel, a sportswoman after Gay's own heart, was too -constantly her husband's companion to have much time for anyone else. -Thus, on the principle that we are nearly always furthest from those -we love, Gay did not see half so much of her friend as she wished, -while having to endure far more of her cousin Lossie's company than -she either desired or deserved. - -Dismissing the subject with a shrug of her shoulders, the girl -started to attend to those household duties in which she was an -adept, and retired below stairs to plan out the day's food, more -especially the dinner. Then she did the flowers, of which there was -always a profusion in the house, for Gay was a real lover of Nature, -and to watch the different gradations of colour in the spring was a -constant delight to her, though when leaf and flower came to their -full growth and perfection, all rushing out on the top of each other, -she lost interest in, and quaintly denounced them, as "vulgar." - -Suddenly it occurred to her that she and Frank had not given one of -their cosy little dinners for some time--why not have one soon, -asking Carlton Mackrell and Chris Hannen, with the inevitable Lossie -to make up the party? The Professor did not count, and in any case -Gay would have found it difficult to find another girl--all those she -knew were either too fast or too slow for her taste, and it must be -confessed that while she bore her own sex no ill-will, she infinitely -preferred the society of men. - -"You can never tell a woman all your secrets as you can a man," she -used to say, and Lossie was fond of quoting this remark, and telling -everyone that Gay hated women--the deduction being that from close -personal observation of her own character, she found all her sisters -as hateful as herself. - -Yet Gay looked no "cat" as she ran to her writing-table; in these -days when the streets are filled with fine athletic woman, but the -dear little girl, with her smile, her blush, her little foot and -hand, her gracious ways, her thanks for some small service rendered, -appears to have vanished from the haunts of men, one such girl at -least, as more than one man knew, was to be found at a certain house -in Connaught Square. - -When she had penned the three invitations, she fell to thinking, then -presently destroyed two out of the three she had written. - -"Carlton Mackrell shall come alone, and convert Frank," she said -aloud; "besides, he and Chris would be sure to fall out over the -rival merits of racing and trotting"; but she sighed as she rang for -the letter to be posted. - -For Chris was such rattling good company, he would describe things in -a manner that brought tears of laughter into the eyes of his -listeners, such readiness, such a knack of creating sunshine wherever -he went, Gay never found in anyone else--it was a mere coincidence, -of course, that he found no other company in the world so delightful -as Gay's! - - - - -CHAPTER III - -"TROTTING _VERSUS_ RACING." - -"Are you still of the same mind about Trotting?" Carlton Mackrell -asked Gay as they sat at the dainty, rose-lit table of the -dining-room in Connaught Square a few nights later. - -"Why, of course!" Gay said reproachfully. "I _never_ change my mind -once it's made up, do I, dear?" and she appealed to her brother. - -The Professor looked at her with his soup spoon poised between his -plate and his mouth. - -"_Never_ is a very positive statement," he said, "but I think you are -fairly consistent when you have made up what you are pleased to -_call_ your mind, Gay." - -Carlton Mackrell glanced at the girl, then at her brother, and smiled. - -What a contrast these two were, to be sure! Gay, so full of life, -and fun, and spirits, bent on finding and enjoying all the good -things of the world, without a care, apparently, and her brother, a -prematurely aged, dry-as-dust specimen, with no ambition whatever -beyond his musty books, and test-tubes, and things, and with a -precision of thought and speech that must surely get on Gay's nerves -terribly! - -Doubtless the man had his good points, but it was an axiom of -Carlton's, that unless a person's virtues struck one at once, life -was too short to waste in trying to discover them. As a practical -man about town--and there is no finer school for the observation of -character than cosmopolitan society--he had learnt to "size-up," as -he expressed it, a man on sight, and only on rare occasions had to -acknowledge to a mistake. - -"I wonder how you came to take up Trotting, Mr. Mackrell? It's much -safer, don't you think, than 'chasing?'" said Gay, as she helped -herself from a dish handed by a particularly pretty parlour-maid. -"Mr. Hannen _loves_ it--but gets more hard knocks than ha'pence. -After a more than usually crushing 'downer,' in which his head -suffered most, he was warned last year by an eminent specialist that -another tap on the same spot would probably prove fatal--" She -paused abruptly as the Professor nodded. - -It would be hard to explain how his nod expressed the opinion that -another such fatality would be well deserved, but it did, and Gay's -eyes flashed whole volumes of indignation that did not escape -Carlton--he loved a woman of spirit. - -"I don't think I ever told you of my first real introduction to -Trotting, and how it came about?" he said, breaking a rather strained -silence, and Gay shook her head, while the Professor, with some -ostentation, devoted himself to his dinner. - -"I found myself at Southend, the place where the mud is, you know, -and having nothing to do one afternoon--did you speak, sir?" as his -host muttered something _sotto voce_ about Satan and idle hands, and -Carlton at once decided to inflict on the spoil-sport Professor, the -punishment of hearing the whole story to the bitter end. He was -rewarded by a delighted gleam in Gay's eye, as he imperturbably -proceeded. - -"I heard some Trotting races were on, and thought I'd go and see -them. While watching the toilet of a horse about to run--or trot, a -horsey-looking individual spoke to me, and though I had never set -eyes on him before, he appeared to know me perfectly." - -The Professor coughed. If ever a cough said "birds of a feather," -his did then, but Carlton ignored it. - -"'Good-day, Mr. Mackrell,' said the unknown, pulling his cap, 'and -what might you be doin' at _this_ game?' I liked the look of the old -chap, somehow--he was fairly long in the tooth, I must tell you--so I -explained that having nothing to do, I had come to see the Trotting. -'I think,' said my unknown, 'as I can do you a bit o' good 'ere this -afternoon. There's a 'orse goin' to be sold after the second race -to-day--owner's taken the merry rat-tat, you see, sir--an' if you can -get 'im for anything below seventy quid, _buy_ 'im. I've been -Trottin' an' drivin' 'em a good many years now, an' I know all about -this 'orse. 'E's sound in wind an' limb, an' money wouldn't buy 'im -if it wasn't a case of couldn't 'elp it, _'ad_ to.'" - -Gay laughed, highly amused. "Well?" she said, while the Professor, -with the air of a god in the clouds, who leans over to observe the -absurd antics of the human ants below, resignedly helped himself to -more salad. - -"Of course," Carlton continued, "I recognised 'the tale' when I heard -it, and naturally supposed my new-found friend had an axe to grind, -but his next remark disabused my mind." - -"'I shan't get nothin' out o' the deal, guv'nor,' he said. 'You'll -pay yer brass straight over to the auctioneer, an' I don't suppose -'e'll give me anything if you buy the 'orse, any more than if anyone -else did--an' somebody _will_ if you don't watch it, though there -ain't much money 'ere to-day,' looking at the crowd disparagingly. -'This 'orse is in the last race, the open, with thirty-five quid to -the winner, an' 'e can win it too, off the mark 'e's got to-day.' - -"Well, to cut a long story short," Mackrell went on, dexterously -combining enjoyment of a good dinner with his recital, "I _did_ buy -the horse for sixty-five guineas, and there I was, landed with -probably a bad bargain--though I liked the make and shape of him, -mind you, but with no earthly idea what to do with him." - -"Marry in haste, repent at leisure," said the Professor. "I -mean----" But Carlton did not stop to inquire what the Professor -meant, only Gay realised that the "conversion" she had hoped for was -far away. - -"Well, my unknown again came to the rescue. - -"'Borrow a sulky off of the man you bought 'im from,' he advised. -''E'll lend it yer, for 'e's a sport--that's why 'e's taken the -knock, I shouldn't wonder,' he added reflectively. Sure enough, the -late owner of my purchase lent me his sulky, and he and my friend -harnessed the horse to it for me when his race came on. Imagine my -astonishment when the horsey-looking man put a whip into my hand, and -said, 'Up you git, sir, an' drive the old boiler yourself. All _you_ -are to do is to sit where you are, an' leave 'is 'ead alone. 'E'll -do the rest, an' you'll win as far as from 'ere to London.'" - -"Which was not _much_!" flashed Gay mirthfully. - -"I expressed considerable doubt as to the success of this plan, you -may be sure," Mackrell went on, "but the man would take no denial, -and before I knew where I was, I had received the promise of a -driver's licence from the Committee, and permission to begin then and -there, and was on my mark, bewildered with the counsellings of my -mentor. - -"'This 'orse 'as forgotten more about Trottin' than you'll ever know, -guv'nor,' he said. 'Just sit still, and leave the rest to 'im. And -look 'ere, you're goin' to back 'im, of course?' I handed over a -five pound note, and my man darted off to the Ring with it, returning -before we were off. 'I've got Sevens'es to your bit,' he told me. -'_Don't_ look at me--get as near yer mark as you can, and keep on the -move.'" - -"But you had time to jump off!" cried the Professor, his voice rising -to a squeal of excitement. - -"At that moment the bell rang," went on Carlton, "and my horse shot -forward, and got into his stride at once, followed by shouts to me -of, 'Don't pull 'im about, for Gawd's sake! Give 'im 'is 'ead!'" - -Carlton stopped to laugh. - -"It was not a case of _giving_," he said, "the horse took it--and my -arms as well, all but. However, I did as I was told, and we won -pretty easily by a length, though I was indeed a 'passenger' on that -trip! Directly after the race, my friend rejoined me. - -"'Well done!' he said, 'though I thought you was goin' to fall out -round that last bend.' He patted the horse affectionately. 'Wot did -I tell yer?' he asked. ''Ere's yer money--forty quid. Now see what -yer can buy this sulky for,' and he dragged me over to the owner of -it. Enquiry elicited the fact that five pounds would buy it. My -mentor whispered in my ear, 'Offer to toss 'im eighty or nothin',' he -said; 'yer luck's in to-day, guv'nor, an' 'e's a sportsman.' I -proposed this plan, and it was accepted. I won, and so found myself -the possessor of a good Trotting horse, the winner of a race, plus -thirty-five pounds in bets, and the owner of a sulky--nearly new--and -all for a fiver!" - -"How ripping!" exclaimed Gay, "and how lucky!" - -"Most remarkable," the Professor concurred dryly. "It was your -monetary good fortune, then, that decided you to make a hobby of -Trotting?" - -Carlton looked the Professor over as if he were some disagreeable -specimen. - -"Chiefly, I think, because I saw an opportunity of following the -advice of Miss Gay, who had advised me to take up a hobby." - -Gay nodded eagerly. - -"Shortly after, I bought some more horses, and have had no reason to -regret it--they have won a good few races, and just about paid their -way. I've got my eye on the chief Trotting Prize--Champion Vase they -call it"--he turned to Gay--"this year, and I think I shall go very -close for it." - -"How I should love to win that!" Gay cried eagerly. "Do you think I -could buy anything good enough to have a chance too?" - -"You're flying at high game for a beginner," laughed Mackrell, "but -if you're really in earnest"--Gay nodded emphatically--"I'll keep my -eyes open, and let you know if I hear of anything. You will have to -give a stiffish price for a 'green' or unexposed horse with a record -of 2.20 trotting or 2.10 pacing, probably about four or five hundred -pounds." - -The Professor gave a startled, hurried glance at his sister. He -regarded all money spent on anything but comfort, and books, which -ranked certainly before necessaries with him, as thrown into the -gutter. - -His and Gay's modest stable arrangements were limited when in -town--for she only hunted in the country--to a handsome mare that she -drove in a smart Ralli car, and which attracted no particular -attention save as being driven by a pretty girl, except when the -Professor accompanied her. - -Then, clutching in an unsportsmanlike way at the reins, shutting his -eyes at dangerous crossings, and screaming out impossible directions -to which Gay turned a deaf ear, his antics convulsed all beholders, -and made her blush for shame. - -"Of course," she said, not surprised by any means at the price -Mackrell mentioned, "I know good horses cost money, and that I can't -win anything with bad ones. By the way, what happened to your friend -who made you buy your first horse?" - -"I took him home with me," Carlton Mackrell replied, "and installed -him as my trainer. His name is Tugwood, and I found out that he had -had great experience of training and driving Trotters; twenty-five -years of it, in fact, both in America and here. He is still with me, -and drives when I am unable to do so myself, which is not often, -happily. Of course you will want a trainer--" - -"Can you find me one?" - -"I think so"; but he did not tell her that he meant to transfer -"Brusher" Tugwood to her as the most trustworthy man he knew, and in -whose hands her horses would be treated as carefully and as jealously -as were his own. - -"It's awfully interesting," said Gay with a sigh. "How I wish I were -a man, to be able to go about, and get some of these experiences. -Nearly all amusing, aren't they?" - -"Mostly," Carlton Mackrell replied, crumbling his bread thoughtfully, -"though a few are sad, and many sordid." - -He went away that night, knowing that he should have kicked himself -for a sweep in encouraging Gay in her new passion, for the scales had -already fallen from his eyes as regarded Trotting, but, doting on the -girl as he did, her wish was law to him, while the prospect of -getting her to himself while Chris was racing elsewhere, was too -great a temptation to resist. - -And after all, why should she not have her fling? She could afford -it, and the time she put in with the noxious Professor must be dull -enough in all conscience. - -When at last, excited and happy, Gay betook herself to bed, she -dreamed of new records created by her horses, and saw her sideboard -covered with cups, king over which reigned the Blue Riband of -Trotting, the Champion Gold Vase. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -"A RACING MAN" - -Right on the top of Epsom Downs, and "far from the madding crowd," as -he expressed it, was Chris Hannen's training stable. - -A pretty red-and-white house, gabled, with old-fashioned -diamond-paned windows, it stood at the top of a lawn (on which in the -summer Chris played sundry hard sets of tennis to keep himself fit), -surrounded by trees which served as a protection from the prevailing -winds in the winter. - -So keen and pure, indeed, was the air on the Downs, that when he took -the house, Chris renamed it "The Breezes," and as a training centre -the position was ideal. Immediately outside the front gate were the -Downs to gallop over, while behind the house was a spacious -schooling-ground, with fac-similes of all the fences to be met with -on a race-course. - -They were always kept stiffly built-up, too, for it was a sound maxim -of Chris's never to allow his horses to get slovenly in their -jumping, through being practised over weak fences. He knew from -experience that horses so indulged were very apt to "chance" their -fences in public, and races were not won under such conditions. -Therefore every attention was paid to his schooling-ground, and the -percentage of winners turned out from the little stable was wonderful -considering the strength of it, and bore testimony to the painstaking -way in which they were prepared. - -Chris owed much of his success to a knowledge of the art of placing -his horses where they could perform to the best advantage. He -sometimes had a difficulty in persuading the owner of a bad horse -that he would never win the Grand National with it, and on one or two -occasions, having done his best with hopeless cases, their owners had -removed them to another trainer, only to discover the truth of -Chris's judgment, and the folly of incurring further expense in vain -attempts to win races. - -Chris regarded an increase in his horses with satisfaction, and a -decrease with equanimity. He was not dependent upon training horses -for a living, for he had a private income of a few hundreds a year, -and after a couple of years in the Army had gone in for it more as a -hobby to which he was devoted, than anything else. He generally had -three or four horses of his own at Epsom, and an equal number of his -friends', but never more than ten or twelve in his stables at most, -as he was of opinion that a man could not do justice to a greater -number, studying each individually, and becoming acquainted with -their peculiarities, often very useful knowledge when riding them in -public. - -It was regarded as a privilege to have a horse or two with Chris, for -an owner always felt assured that they could not be in more competent -hands, and the amateur's independent position precluded the -possibility of a horse being run to suit the stable rather than the -owner. - -Chris's popularity with both sexes was general, and occasionally he -had a horse belonging to a sporting member of the fair sex. He found -it hard sometimes to convince the latter that her horse was not -within some stones of the Sandown Grand Annual Steeplechase form, and -he was strong in his refusal to encourage useless waste of money in -travelling expenses. He had incurred the momentary displeasure of a -lady with sporting ambitions by informing her that, after many -experiments, he was forced to the conclusion that her horse could not -win a saddle and bridle at a country fair, if a decent proportion of -the other runners were trying, but no one was ever angry with Chris -for long. His imperturbable good temper and quaint humour invariably -came to the rescue, and his opinion on the merits or otherwise of a -horse was consistently borne out. - -"I am unlikely to entertain an angel unawares," he once said to a -disappointed owner, "and it is my custom to give every horse more -than one chance. But, on the other hand, it is not my practice to -keep horses belonging to other people in my stable when I know they -are worthless. I do not keep 'stumers' myself for longer than I can -help, though I'm pleased to say I do not often buy them either, so -why should I delude other people into doing so? Your horse, my dear -sir, would be better employed in some less ambitious sphere than a -race-course, and, without wishing to hurt your feelings--and they are -very sore, I know, when the brutal truth is driven home by a -sympathetic but conscientious outsider--I would suggest that you cut -your losses, and send him up to Tattersall's as a light-weight hunter -for a galloping country like Leicestershire. There are many -ten-stone hunting men who love a bit of blood to chase a fox upon, -and your horse is at least sound." - -On this particular day the morning's work was over, and Chris and his -head lad, (who was universally and impartially known as Scotty, -though the presumption was that he had been christened something else -originally) were standing in the box of a horse, looking on while he -was being dressed down, and discussing the results of a trial from -which he had lately emerged triumphantly. - -"It makes the 'andicap Steeple at Kempton look pretty good for 'im, -sir," the head lad was saying; "'e showed up well the first time we -tried 'im, an' there can be no mistake this time either, with old -Evergreen in the gallop. 'E's a wonderful good trial 'oss, an' I -never expected the young 'un to give 'im weight and a clever -beatin'.'" - -Chris agreed. - -"I'm very pleased with him," he said; "the further he went, the -better he seemed to like it. Of course, we shall be meeting -something at Kempton--especially if Muscateer runs--but whatever -beats us will win, I think." - -"It's good enough for _my_ money," Scotty announced, "an' if you take -my advice you'll 'elp yourself properly w'en they begin bettin'." - -Chris laughed as they left the box, and walked into another. - -"I believe you make it a point of honour to back anything that runs -from here," he said. - -"Not exactly so bad as that, sir," the head lad demurred, "but any'ow -it's paid well up to now." - -"Yes, we've been pretty lucky," said Chris. - -"Luckier than you was the first time I saw you, sir," said the head -lad significantly. "You was on yer back in the h'ambulance at -Sandown Pawk, and you wasn't 'arf 'outed,' neither. I was down at -the fence where you 'came it'--I always goes out into the course when -they're 'lepping,' you know, sir," he explained. "I like to see what -they're a-doin' of round the far side, an' when the Stewards is at -lunch, or 'arf-way back to London before the last race is run. I see -your 'orse fall--old Blow'ard it was, sir--" - -Chris nodded. - -"And when 'e went down, my last bob went with 'im, but I didn't bear -you no malice, sir, an' I was the first man to get to you. I've done -a bit o' riding in my time, an' I know all about 'ow it feels to get -knocked out, though, thank Gawd, I never got such a 'biff' over the -'ead as that 'orse what was follerin' 'anded yer!" - -Chris laughed, and passed his hand carefully over a chestnut mare, -which turned a vicious eye upon him. - -"Gently, gel, gently," walking up to her head. "Pity she's so -bad-tempered, isn't it, Scotty?" - -"Turnin' sour, that's what _she_ is, though when she does take it -into 'er 'ead to try, she wants some catching, an' no error. It's -them sort as gets innocent men warned off," Scotty concluded -bitterly, having a lively recollection of an interview with the -Stewards in connection with the running of the mare, "though 'Eaving -was witness," as he told the Stewards, "that all parties were -innocent enough, except the jady mare." - -Chris chuckled at the memory. - -"Haven't forgotten your 'carpeting' yet, then, Scotty? It _was_ bad -luck. I expected them to send for me too, as the trainer. I think I -should have asked one of 'em to ride the mare a few times, to see how -in and out she runs. I've got her in a Selling Hurdle at Wye next -week, and win or lose, she's to be sold--can't afford to keep such a -dangerous customer as that, can we, Scotty?" - -"We can _not_," the other agreed with feeling. "A 'orse like that -would break the Bank of England, an' then win a nice race direc'ly -you sold 'er." - -The two strolled round all the boxes--Chris had eight horses in his -charge now--and when he had seen them all done up, went in to -breakfast, attended by his dogs, as usual. - -No matter in what part of the house he might be, or how long absent, -his faithful escort of three awaited him, eager, loving, full of warm -welcome, and if the fox-terrier, "Copper," were sometimes jealous of -his son "Penny's" accomplished tricks, and Chris had occasionally to -smack them both into good behaviour, "Cypka," the bull-pup, gave him -no trouble whatever, acting, indeed, as foster-mother to the other -two, and occasional peacemaker. - -Chris's eye fell on a letter from Gay Lawless among his -correspondence, and his face brightened as he opened it. - - -"Dear Chris," he read, "I shall be very glad to see you any day for -tea and a chat. I've got the Trotting mania badly, and though I know -it isn't much in your line, I _must_ talk to somebody about it, and -dear old Frank is so difficult to interest on any subject except -science. If you're not racing anywhere, do come in to tea to-morrow -afternoon. Lossie's coming, and I also expect Mr. Mackrell, who -thinks he has found a couple of useful Trotters for me. I am so -anxious to begin.--Yours sincerely, - -"GAY LAWLESS." - - -Chris Hannen digested the news with mixed feelings. "Gay's mad on -Trotting," he thought, "and it's no sort of game for her. Carlton -Mackrell has no business to help her, though, to do him justice, -after what he said the other day, I can't accuse him of aiding and -abetting exactly. He is deadly in earnest about Gay, and he'll have -opportunities enough now, confound him!" - -Yet Chris smiled as he folded her letter up, and put it into his -pocket--the breastpocket. "All's fair in love and--racing, I -suppose, whether it's jumping or Trotting." - -Mrs. Summers, Chris's housekeeper, came in at that moment, and -interrupted his thoughts, which were somewhat interfering with his -breakfast. She had occupied to Chris the same position as Min -Toplady did to Gay, but in appearance was a direct contrast, for -tall, angular, and determined-looking, she inspired awe in all save -her familiars, who were few. - -Her young master was the very apple of her eye, and she strove to -supply the dreadful want in his life caused by the loss of his -mother. Just she and two others knew how terribly he felt that loss, -for his mind was an open book to her, and undemonstrative and -practical as he invariably was, he sometimes dropped a remark that -showed his thoughts were never far away from his sorrow. - -"She was my pal," he said once to Gay, "the only real pal I ever had. -I don't think we had any secrets from each other--certainly no guilty -ones, thank God--and now she's gone, I realise bitterly how much more -I might have done to make her happy. She was easily pleased, bless -her, for all she wanted was to be with me, but she never intruded, -and I remember so well how she used to propose something she thought -would please me, and say: 'If you don't mind, lovie?' as though she -thought that perhaps she bored me sometimes." Only Gay, and Mrs. -Summers and Aunt Lavinia knew the tremendous depth of feeling, the -capacity for suffering, that lay under Chris Hannen's easy-going, -bantering ways, and if the housekeeper used all her tact and -kindliness to make up to him, if ever so little, something of what he -had lost, Gay Lawless, who had the clearest possible insight into -people's characters, never made the mistake of volunteering any -sympathy. - -She knew Chris hated it, as she did, and appreciated his silent pluck -as much as he did the reserves of courage that had not yet been -called up in herself. - -"Good-morning, Master Chris," said Mrs. Summers (he was always Master -Chris to her, never having grown up in her eyes), but her face -assumed a stern expression as she regarded the only half-finished -breakfast. - -"No food again this morning? I hope you're not up to them wastin' -tricks again? Wastin' your life, _I_ call it," with a disgusted -sniff. - -Chris looked up with a smile. - -"Good-morning, Summers," he said. "I hope I see you well? No, I am -not wasting just at present, though there's just a pound or two to -come off before Kempton next week. We shall have another glorious -winner (Chris characterised all winners as glorious) then. Which is -it to be this time, a new bonnet or a dress-length?" - -"Gloves this time, Master Chris, and thank you," Mrs. Summers -replied, "though there ain't much chance of showing off any finery in -_this_ place, I'm sure." - -"How often has the butcher called this week, Summers?" Chris asked, -with a twinkle in his eye. - -Mrs. Summers tossed her head. The butcher was rather a sore point -with her, his name having been coupled with hers by "those impudent -bits of boys," as she designated the stable lads. - -"If I hear one of them brats discussing me and my affairs, I'll box -his ears for him soundly," she threatened, "so there!" - -"Quite right, Summers, don't you stand it," Chris agreed. "By the -way, I'm going up to town to-day, so don't bother about any dinner -for me." - -He walked towards the door, then paused on the threshold to fire a -parting shot. He loved "chipping" people, as he called it, but he -would have cut off his right hand rather than wilfully hurt anyone's -feelings. - -"If the butcher _does_ call to-day by any chance, Summers, there are -no orders, you know," he said with a grave face, then raced off into -his study before the enraged but complacent housekeeper could reply. - -"What a boy it is!" she said to herself as she cleared away, "always -laughin' and having a joke about something, bless his heart! I'm -sure I'd rather see him like that a thousand times, than sitting so -quiet as he does sometimes, looking straight in front of him at -nothing like, though _I_ know well enough what he sees, and who he's -thinking about, poor, lonely boy. I wonder if he'll ever marry that -Miss Gay Lawless, whose photograph he looks at so often? If only -she'll make him half as happy as he deserves to be," she concluded, -as she left the room with her tray. - -Curiously enough, that was the very question that Chris was asking -himself, as he stood in his study gazing at Gay's photograph, though -it was not of his own happiness he was thinking at that moment, but -of hers--for that was Chris's way. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TWO GIRLS - -Gay Lawless looked particularly bewitching the while she entertained -her visitors that afternoon. She seemed more charming than usual to -both Chris and Carlton Mackrell, while even the Professor, who -usually noticed nothing, patted her approvingly on the head, and -remarked, "You look very well, my dear." - -Gay was gifted (for no one can acquire it) with perfect taste in -clothes, and her tea-gown was cut with that attention to detail which -results in simplicity itself. Although one could be with Gay for -quite a long time, and have the pleasing assurance that she was the -best style in the world, there was always a great difficulty in -remembering exactly what she had worn. - -"What had she on?" envious girls used to ask the men who admired her, -and the answer usually was, "I don't know, but it was quite simple, -and _such_ good style." - -To-day she appeared to both men more lovable than ever, and Chris -thought what a shame it would be to bury such a bright creature in a -place like Epsom, with no one to amuse or to admire her except -himself. - -He took short hold of his fancy before it carried him to further -flights, however, as he dropped into a chair by her side, while, much -to Carlton's disgust, the latter was button-holed by the Professor. - -"What's the latest about your Trotters?" inquired Chris, breaking -into a smile that accentuated the crow's-feet round his young eyes. - -"Great news," Gay replied with enthusiasm. "Mr. Mackrell has bought -me a couple he got to hear of, a green Trotter who can go in about -2.18 called 'Silver Streak,' and a pacer with a trial of 2.13¼ named -'Maudie T.' And isn't it kind of him, he's going to lend me his -trainer--sounds funny to talk of lending a man, doesn't it?--while -the craze lasts, as he calls it. But you know, Chris, it _isn't_ a -craze, it's a--a--almost a disease now! I'm racing one at Waterloo -Park next Monday, and oh! I do hope it will win, don't you?" she -asked eagerly. - -"With all my heart," Chris replied, with more enthusiasm than he -thought he could work up over Trotting. "And may I be there to see. -Monday, you said, didn't you? That will suit me to a T. I've got -nothing to do till Wednesday at Kempton, so perhaps you'll return the -compliment, and come over to see me bump round on Beeswing? He did -well in a gallop this morning--better than I expected, in fact." - -"Answered the question all right, did he?" Gay asked. "Does he -represent a betting chance on Wednesday, with the eminent -gentleman-jockey up--and is he _safe_?" she added, turning a little -pale. - -"Well, he's about as safe a jumper as an amateur"--he grinned, -"that's what some of the professionals in their scorn for the -'leather-polishers' they call us, could wish to ride, and my head lad -says he has so much in hand that he could stop to scratch himself, -and then win," Chris chuckled. "Oh! _hang_ Lossie!" - -The stifled ejaculation was prompted by the entrance of a remarkably -pretty girl, beautifully dressed in dark blue, who rustled across the -room to Gay, and kissed her perfunctorily. - -"_How_ are you?" she inquired, but though her voice was affectionate, -her eyes flitted from Gay to Carlton Mackrell--where they stayed. - -"A1, Lossie, thanks. I needn't ask how _you_ are. I never saw you -looking better--(or more expensive)", she added to herself with a -sigh, as her cousin shook hands with Carlton and Chris, and begged -Gay to give her a cup of tea. - -Frank Lawless ambled forward, and was soon busily juggling with milk -and sugar basin, while Chris wondered what in Heaven was wrong with -the girl, for if she always gave him the same displeasing impression, -he could not possibly deny her beauty. Tall and dark, with masses of -silky blue-black hair, she had eyes blue as heaven, and straight, -delicate features that emphasised the irregularity of Gay's changing -face, of which the chief charm, perhaps, lay in its expression. - -She seemed a bundle of nerves as her slender foot beat a tatoo on the -floor, while her wonderful eyes were never still, yet never rested -long on any single object save Carlton, who was certainly well worth -looking at. - -It was Lossie's misfortune to have fallen genuinely in love with him, -not for his money, though she liked that well enough, but himself. -His was the Saxon temperament which veils the keenest pleasure, and -the deepest grief under the same quiet, almost bored exterior, but -she knew that his indifference concealed an ardent, even romantic -temperament, that might be counted upon sooner or later to betray him -into one of those follies so dear to the heart of woman, while -Chris's gay, almost affectionate manner to the women he liked, argued -a much greater warmth of temperament than he really possessed. - -She felt completely out of it as the three sat talking horses, and -had leisure to note the eager look on Gay's face as she listened to -what Carlton was saying, also to digest the fact that this Trotting -fad would bring her cousin and Mackrell more together than ever. - -"Both your horses are timed to do two minutes thirty seconds," said -Mackrell presently, "and upon that form they will be handicapped on -Monday. I think--at least, 'Brusher' tells me--that Silver Streak -had improved on that time in private, but he has always been 'just -beaten' lately, so they may put him on a few yards closer mark next -time he runs. When a horse is entered for a Trotting race, you -know," he explained, "the owner has to supply the handicappers with -his best time for a mile on a track." - -"What's to stop a man representing his horse as being able to do two -minutes thirty seconds when he knows he can do it in less?" inquired -Chris, for his experience of the Turf had made him familiar with most -of the dodges for throwing dust in the handicappers' eyes, with a -view to getting dropped a few pounds in the scale. "You can't get -weight off in the stable," was a dictum he often heard, but never -practised. - -"Well, for one thing," Mackrell replied, "the officials generally -like to see a horse do his time before they frame their handicap, to -prevent mistakes, you know," and he laughed. "For another, if a -horse improves appreciably on his entered time, the 'man in the box,' -as they call him, wants to know something about it, though, of -course, a few seconds faster might be owing to a good track and good -going. On the other hand, if a horse does not trot up to his time, -they can, if they like, put up their official driver to take him -round as fast as he can make him go. If the discrepancy is -considerable, the scheming owner will probably find himself suspended -for a few months, or even warned off." - -"But," said Chris, who at heart deeply resented Mackrell's -encouraging Gay in her misguided fancy, "when such men as Rensslaer -and Vancouver and that ilk, all hold aloof from the sport as -understood in England, what chance has it of becoming a national -sport? The trotting tracks here are so bad that it is really kinder -not to enumerate them; most are in connection with public-houses, and -the people who frequent them are the middle class. Trotting, in -short, is the sport of that and the lower classes, and they trot -cheap horses in consequence." - -"Unfortunately," said Mackrell, with a slightly heightened colour, -for he got fearfully chaffed among his own set for his bizarre taste, -"the upper classes take no interest in Trotting in England. It will -take time to prove to them that a trotter is not necessarily a -butcher's horse, but can vie with a hackney and swell carriage horse, -and is almost as fast as a motor car as well, thus combining the -horse and motor in one animal. Of course we all know that in America -the trotter is the National horse, as the thoroughbred is the English -one." - -Chris was silent. He thought that Mackrell understood trotting, or -rather mixed trotting and pacing, as practised in England, but knew -nothing of the higher art of trotting, that is to say, real -first-class trotting with horses worth money, and which could go in -2.8 or better--like the famous Rensslaer's, for example. - -"Are you _really_ going to keep Trotters, Gay?" Lossie cut in sharply. - -"Rather! and I'm going to train at Flytton. Inigo Court's close by, -you know, and I shall love seeing my horses jog in the morning. -They'll let me do that, I suppose?" she asked Carlton Mackrell, and -pointedly turning her back on Chris. - -"Oh, certainly," he replied, after a moment's hesitation, and much to -the disgust of the Professor, who considered that all this horsey -talk was more suitable for stables than a drawing-room. He did hope -Gay would not become one of those horrid, slangy, racing-women he -abominated; almost unconsciously he exchanged a glance with Lossie, -who flashed back one of sympathy, for jealousy and envy of Gay -corroded her. - -All the advantages were with Gay--money, position, freedom--there was -even her great capacity for winning hearts to set against her -cousin's beauty; it wasn't fair, and the unfairest thing of all was -Carlton Mackrell's obvious devotion, and as Lossie sat unnoticed, -while Gay was the magnet that drew the eyes and hearts of both men -present, perhaps the two smartest and best-looking men of their -circle, and one of whom Lossie loved, her gorge rose. - -Fortunately Gay was not in love with him, and up to now, at any rate, -Carlton had not picked a quarrel with Lossie for loving him unbidden, -as some men do (regarding it as an unwarrantable encroachment on -their liberty), and when Gay married Chris, whom she loved without -knowing it, then Lossie would cut in, and a beautiful woman at close -quarters is a beautiful woman all the world over. - -Failing him, but the girl shuddered at the thought, there was the -Professor ... rich men did not grow on every bush, and her tastes -were expensive. - -The mother of Frank and Gay had been wealthy, and their father and -his family comparatively poor, a fact greatly resented by Lossie, who -had a mordant tongue, and was wont to describe the Lawless branch of -the family as "the silk cloak," and hers as "the cotton lining." - -It was with angry, embittered heart that later in the afternoon she -turned her steps homewards, bitterly comparing her lot with Gay's, -for Becky Sharp's type is much commoner than is generally -supposed--the type that can be good and happy (at a pinch) on five -thousand a year, but _quite_ good, and _quite_ happy on ten and -upwards, and Lossie was of that type. - -She had friends, of course, and admirers, who came to see her, George -Conant much oftener than she wanted him, but a house without plenty -of money, and a man at the head of it, is not half equipped for life -and happiness. For the tiny establishment in South Street was run, -if not ruled, by Aunt Lavinia (Chris's especial pal), who would -greatly have preferred the more roomy comfort of Connaught Square, in -which the Professor and Gay buried their unfashionable heads. - -Both Lossie's parents were dead, and Lavinia had given her sister's -child a home, tackling each day the difficult problem of trying to -love a singularly unloveable girl, though "Anyway, my dear, she's -delightful to look at!" Lavinia would say confidentially to Gay, -after some especially flagrant piece of selfishness on Lossie's part. - -Lavinia had a queer religion of her own (but not so queer when you -come to reflect that nowadays real religion is found chiefly in those -who do not profess any), and it was summed up in the love of -humanity, and the law of human kindness. - -"Teach folks to love," she used to say; "teach 'em to keep on -loving--the rest will follow. No soul was ever yet damned that knew -how to love--it's in the loving, not the _being_ loved, that we find -happiness. Have you ever noticed the courting couples about on -Sundays and holidays, that if the girls are not pretty, they _look_ -so? Love has done the trick--not new clothes, or getting themselves -up, but just _loving_ something that's not themselves." - -Lossie had an immense contempt for the "giving out" process of love -as practised by Aunt Lavinia, the more especially when it took the -form of cheques better employed in paying the milliners' bills of her -niece, nor was the Professor more appreciative, for he seldom or -never went to see his father's sister in South Street, though he -welcomed her cordially enough on her rare visits to Connaught Square. -Perhaps it was because (as he had long ago suspected) she reluctantly -recognised him as lazy, self-indulgent, ruined by his too abundant -means, amiable with the tepid amiability of a dog who does not fight, -and by blandishments hopes to be allowed to retain his bone. -Hall-marked he was, with the special form of selfishness that makes -the man completely happy in his bodily environment, and mental -pursuits and hobbies, shun the society of his kind, and to whom it is -a matter of complete indifference that "grass-grown become the paths -to friendship that are never trod." - -He usually (in quite unconscious antagonism) ordered twenty pounds -worth of new books when through Lossie he heard of some -preposterously good deed done by Lavinia, but to go and do likewise -simply never occurred to him, nor did it at that time to Gay, who, -without knowing it, was selfish also. - -Yet, but for this blessed privilege of youth, where would beautiful, -much-abused youth be? Gay was young, full of life and spirits, and -would have to suffer a bit herself before she vividly realised the -sufferings of others, even if she responded readily enough to any -demand on her purse, if not her time. All of this Lavinia perfectly -understood, but much as she loved the girl, Chris, whose mother's -friend she had been was the very light of her eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -AT KEMPTON - -A bright, frosty morning broke for Kempton's second day, and at -Epsom, Chris Hannen whistled and sang while he cold-tubbed and -dressed, in sheer light-heartedness born of the pleasing conviction -of training and riding another winner before the day was out. -Besides, Gay was coming to witness his triumph, and the prospect of -some hours in her society was enough to make any man happy, he -thought, while her "Never mind, old chap; better luck next time," -would considerably soften the disappointment if he got beaten. - -Having seen his horse started for the station, he himself followed -later on his way to town to pick up Gay. That young lady was as -cheerful as Chris as she went about the house fixing things up, and -arranging for her brother's comfort during her absence. - -"Now don't get into mischief, Heron," she had told him at breakfast. -"I shall be back soon after five, and I'll tell you all about how -Chris gets on. I _know_ you'll be interested to hear, won't you?" -she added teasingly. - -"I hope he will get on--and stop on," the Professor replied, with as -near an approach to a joke as he ever permitted himself. "I like -Chris Hannen," he went on, regarding his sister over the rim of his -glasses, "and I wish he would give up that dangerous game before it -gives _him_ up You have some influence with him, Gay; can you not -exercise it?" - -The light suddenly went out of her face; then she shook her head. - -"Every man to his own game, Heron, and Chris is as devoted to -'chasing as you are to science, you dear old fossil!" - -"Hum!" was all the Professor vouchsafed to this remark, for to -compare _his_ pursuit with that of Chris was nothing short of an -insult. - -When Chris arrived about eleven o'clock he found Gay ready and -waiting for him, dressed in a smart, workman-like tweed coat and -skirt, and with her glasses slung. A remarkably good-looking and -happy pair they looked as they drove to meet the coach that Effie's -husband, Captain Bulteel, a sporting man--and who among Gay's friends -was not sporting, except Lossie Holden?--was driving down to Kempton -Park races. - -A place had been found for Chris, and when they arrived at the -rendezvous in Eaton Square they were received with great warmth, Gay -especially, and were soon on their way. - -Effie and Gay talked nineteen to the dozen, and the drive was very -pleasant. Though not the coaching season, Tom Bulteel was no -believer in his team standing idle during the winter, so drove them -to all the suburban meetings, or to Richmond, and other places, when -there was no racing within reach. Everyone was in the best of -spirits, and expressed surprise when the coach turned on to the -course--the all-absorbing topic of horses having claimed the party's -attention on the way, it was little wonder that the journey seemed no -sooner to commence than it was over. - -Naturally everyone had asked Chris about each and every race on the -card. - -"I never give tips," laughed Chris. "If they come off, people -grumble at the price or something--as though I could help that--and -if they don't, they look aggrieved, and more than half suspect one of -putting them away. But I'll tell you this much--I'm having my -maximum of a 'pony' on, and I expect to get it back, plus adequate -interest, you know." - -Arrived on the course, they made their way to the paddock to find -Beeswing. He was in his box, and showed no signs of the railway -journey. The lad opened the door as they approached, touching his -cap to Gay, and regarding her with the unabashed admiration peculiar -to his class. - -"All right?" Chris inquired, walking up to the horse and patting him, -an example Gay instantly followed. "Good. My bag's in the -dressing-room, I suppose?" - -"Yes, sir. I see Captain Conant's traps there too. 'E's come to try -and ride that 'orse of Gunn's, I s'pose." - -"Yes, he always rides for that stable," Chris replied, and smiled. -He had a way of summing up people; "drops her h's and calls it -h'arsthma," was his definition of a rich, vulgar old woman he and Gay -detested, and "a pair of spurs and a grin," had as aptly hit off -Captain Conant, who fancied he could ride, and courted public -disaster on every possible occasion. He was also an ardent but at -present infrequent worshipper at Lossie's shrine, as, greatly to his -disgust, his regiment was now quartered in Ireland. - -"Pity Lossie's not here, eh, Gay?" whispered Chris in an aside. -"Let's go and have some lunch--that is, _you_ can have some, while I -will sit and watch you longingly, and dream of my next meat dinner!" - -They returned to the coach for lunch, and Chris looked after Gay with -the same care and attention that a trained nurse bestows on a patient -whose will she has reason to think has been made in her favour, and -the girl enjoyed herself thoroughly. - -Captain Conant was to ride in the first race, and her remarks on his -ability as a jockey, and his probable fate, would have quite unnerved -the gentleman in question could he have heard them. - -"There he goes!" she exclaimed as a man cantered past, "_what_ a -seat! Did you ever see anything like it?" - -Chris smiled. - -"It _is_ ugly, isn't it?" he agreed, "but men ride in all shapes, you -know, and it isn't always the best-looking in the saddle that is the -strongest." - -"I know that, thank you," Gay replied saucily, "but George Conant -can't ride for nuts, and never will. I wonder he hasn't broken his -neck long ago. Of course, he only rides the safest of jumpers, and -even so, it's no odds on his not jumping first. You yourself told -me, Chris," she added reproachfully, "that he often throws down his -reins at the fences, and catches hold fore and aft, shrieking loudly -if anything ranges alongside!" - -Chris exploded. - -"Well, yes," he said, "he's certainly not what one would call a bold -horseman. He likes to have most of the course to himself, and -regards it as a liberty if anyone approaches within two lengths of -him. He once reported a jockey who had the temerity to shout 'Yah!' -while they were both in the air over a fence, and in consequence of -which remark he lost his balance--he has no grip, you know--and fell -off." - -"Frightened Isaac!" cried Gay indignantly. - -"Well," continued Chris, "he described the ejaculation as an -intimidating one, and was surprised that the Stewards did not -immediately suspend the perpetrator from riding again. The next time -the two met in a race, the professional did not confine his -ejaculation to the fences, but kept up a running commentary upon poor -George, while his remarks were rather more pungent than on the -previous occasion. I have before now helped George back into the -saddle over the 'drop' fences--chiefly by the slack of his breeches, -you know--and he seemed surprised, not to say grateful, that I had -not given him the gentle push that would have dissolved the -precarious partnership between himself and his horse." - -"Has he ever won anything?" Gay asked, laughing. - -"Oh, yes. This year he has won two races, one a walk-over for a -National Hunt flat race, and the other when there were three runners. -One was not trying, and ran out after going half-way, while the -jockey of the other was so beat two fences from home, that he lost -his senses, and fell off on the flat. George did not notice this, -and for the last quarter of a mile rode a desperate finish, mistaking -the jeers of the crowd for appreciation." - -"Bet you a pair of gloves he comes undone this time, falls barred," -Gay said, and Chris closed, knowing it was a bad bet for him, but -welcoming the prospect of buying gloves for Gay, and perhaps being -permitted to button them up. What felicity! - -Gay's glasses were turned to the starting-post. - -"He can't get his horse to join the others," she announced. "He's -speaking to the starter--who looks annoyed, from his attitude. I do -believe there are tears in his eyes." - -"Strong glasses yours, Gay, aren't they?" inquired Mrs. Bulteel -mischievously, but Gay was too busy to heed her. - -"They're running," she said the next moment. "George has got away -all right, and the pace is good. Something in green--what is it, -Chris?--is alongside him; oh-h!--that was a near thing. He all but -came unglued, as you call it, at that first fence. He's got back -again now, and is picking up his reins. Does he _always_ drop them -when 'in the air'? Now they're coming to the ditch, and, by the way -he's riding, I think I win my bet here. Sit back, _sit_ back, man!" -she muttered, as George rose to the fence, and on landing was shot -far up his horse's neck, whence he gradually pushed himself back into -the saddle. - -Mrs. Bulteel laughed right out; it was more interesting to watch Gay -than the race. - -"Hullo! one's down--blue and white chevrons!" Gay glanced at her card -to see its name. "It's 'Topaz.' The jock's up all right, but Topaz -is where he fell--winded, I expect. Where are the others?" sweeping -the field with her glasses. "Oh, there they are, and Captain -Conant's still on top." - -The horses were running towards them now, and every incident of the -race could be seen without glasses. - -"Knight Errant's going best," Chris said. "By Jove, can't he jump! -Just through the top of the fence where the 'give' is!" - -The horses galloped past, and Gay put up her glasses as they rounded -the bend into the back stretch. - -"Two more down," she said, "and at the plain fence too! It's a bit -on the angle, isn't it, Chris?" - -He did not reply. He was watching the three remaining runners -approach the water with a quiet smile. - -"You'll win your gloves there if anywhere, Gay," he said. "George -never did like the water." - -The words were scarcely out of his mouth before the expected -happened. George's horse galloped strongly up to the guard fence, -dwelt for a second, and then gave a tremendous bound which carried -him clear over the water. The impetus was evidently too much for his -rider, who abandoned his reins, and incidentally his whip too, at the -very moment his mount took off. - -With a shriek of despair (which Gay declared she heard quite -plainly), he described a parabola in the air, and descended in a heap -in the middle of the water. His horse galloped on with the other -two--it was not the first time his owner had parted company with him -without apparent reason--and he showed his sense of the situation by -lobbing along behind the others, thoroughly enjoying himself. - -George remained in the water till he thought they had all gone over. -He had no intention of being jumped on if he could help it, and he -had sense enough to lie where he fell (and he fell pretty often), -knowing that a horse coming behind cannot dodge you, if you are -trying to dodge _him_. Then Lossie's admirer crawled out, a -dripping, miserable-looking object, and made his way towards the -paddock. - -Passing close to the coach, Chris called out to him, "Not hurt, are -you, George?" The reply was indistinct, though Gay supplied one. - -"Hurt? Of course not!" she said, chuckling; "only badly frightened! -And anyway, I've won my gloves!" - -Soon after, Chris went over to change, and Gay was all impatience for -his race to begin. - -"You'll see something worth looking at," she informed the others. -"Whenever I see Chris ride I think there's nothing like -Steeplechasing, and whenever I see Mr. Mackrell drive, I think -nothing can touch Trotting. I really believe I prefer Trotting, -though, for it hasn't the danger of this game, and I don't like to -see anyone I'm fond--anyone I know--run such risks." - -"After all," said Effie, "it's a gentleman's sport, and if the dear -boy _will_ break his neck at it, he must. But as to your Trotting -mania, Gay," hurriedly changing the conversation as Gay whitened, -"frankly, I don't think it's good enough for you, and Carlton ought -to be ashamed of himself for infecting you with his taste for it." - -"He didn't," retorted Gay. "I maintain that a perfect Trotter is -every bit as pretty a sight as a horse racing--and not half so -dangerous." - -"Well, well!" said Effie, a shade of anxiety on her small, -weather-beaten face, "take care you don't get drawn in too far, and -talked about--it's unusual, you know, a girl going in for that sort -of thing, and not quite nice. Pity you can't hand Mackrell over to -Lossie--the Trotting Meetings would be good enough for her--they're -not for you. Frankly, I think the Professor for once is quite right -_there_." - -But Gay was not listening, she was just asking herself whether she -really were fond of Chris, and _how_ fond, when that gentleman -cantered by with a cheerful nod, her opinion of him in the saddle -being amply justified. - -His lithe, graceful figure was seen to its best advantage in colours, -while his long legs seemed riveted to his horse's sides--leaning -slightly forward, and standing in his stirrups, he and his mount were -in the most perfect unison, and personified the very poetry of motion. - -"He'll take a lot of beating," one of the men on the coach -prophesied. "He never says much about his horses, but I know he's -very sweet on his chance to-day. I'm going into the Ring to back -him," he added to Gay. "Can I do anything for you?" - -"Put half-a-sovereign on for me, please," Gay replied, producing the -coin, "and see if you can't get over the odds, whatever they are; say -it's for a lady," she laughed, and the man lingered a moment to look -at her bright face--yes, there was no doubt about it, all the men -liked Gay. - -In a few minutes the horses were off. There were eight runners, and -a lightly-weighted one cut out the work at a strong pace. They -strung out a bit over the first few fences, with the favourite -Musketeer always nicely placed, and Chris on Beeswing lying handy. - -Gay watched the race keenly, describing all the running to Mrs. -Bulteel, who noted that most of her remarks concerned Chris. - -"Watch him now," she exhorted. "Up! Well over! That's the way to -ride over fences. Chris calls it the gentle art of sitting back. He -says you _can't_ sit back too far." - -As the horses passed them she called out, "Well done, Chris! Well -done!" in girlish delight. She looked her very best just then, the -cold air heightening her colour, her grey eyes almost black with -excitement and pleasure. - -A fall occurred at the fence before the water, but the rest got -safely over, and Musketeer began to improve his position little by -little. He was ridden by a jockey who had steered two Grand National -winners, and Chris knew too much of the skill of the man to let him -get too far ahead if he could help it, so he too sharpened up a bit. -As they approached the last fence he saw he had only the favourite to -beat, and from the way his own horse was going, he felt he had his -measure. - -They rose together, and for a few strides ran side by side, Chris -going easily, while the other was "niggling" with his hands. Chris -improved his position, calling out "Good-bye, Arthur!" having no -desire to be caught "napping" by such a consummate artist at -finishing as his opponent. He drew away with a length's lead, and in -a flash out came the whip on the favourite, who responded gamely, and -for a stride or two (or so it seemed to anxious Gay) looked like -catching Chris. - -But to even a poor judge of racing it was all over. Chris had a lot -in hand, and galloped home an easy three-lengths winner, the jockey -on the favourite ceasing to persevere when he saw it was hopeless. -He was a fine horseman, and a merciful man, a combination by no means -common. - -"After all," said Gay, with a rapturous sigh, "I'm not sure that I -would not rather see Chris win a race, than take the Gold Vase with -one of my Trotters!" - -"Why not do both, my dear?" said Effie dryly, "so long as you don't -take Carlton Mackrell as well." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE ESCAPADE - -Acting on Carlton's advice, Gay did not enter her horses for -Blackpool, Glasgow, Liverpool, Belfast, or Leeds; the Irish Meetings -were of course out of the question with so small a stable, so that -she was practically limited to three Meetings within easy reach of -town. - -"It was," as he privately expressed it to himself, "merely a -flirtation with Trotting, not playing the game itself," and he hoped -that like other ill-advised flirtations, it would die a natural -death. Though he honestly believed that Trotting had a future in -England if properly managed, he had most unwillingly come to the -conclusion that Chris was right, and though it furnished a healthy -amusement for a great number of cheery, happy people, under existing -conditions it was decidedly neither his, nor any young girl's -_milieu_. - -No doubts whatever troubled Gay, who was thoroughly enjoying herself, -and two days before the meeting at Waterloo Park, at which Silver -Streak was to carry her colours for the first time in public, she -succeeded in effecting what she had set her heart on, viz., the -driving by herself at exercise of one of her horses. - -With her usual incorrigible frankness she unfolded her plan to the -Professor at luncheon, much to his horror and disgust. - -"Can you not be content to be a spectator," he asked, "instead of -participating actively in a sport (he pronounced the word with venom) -which Lossie tells me claims as its closest adherents publicans and -tradesmen? A nice thing it would be to find your butcher or -fishmonger careering round the course beside you, encouraging you -with shouts and cries such as are practised on all race-courses, or -so I am informed, for I have never visited one. I deeply deplore -this unhappy infatuation, but, as usual, my wishes are ignored," he -concluded huffily. - -"Don't be a prig, Heron," said Gay carelessly. "You can't help being -a muff, I suppose, or Lossie a sneak, but for father's sake--and a -better sportsman never breathed, as you know well enough--_do_ try to -take a little interest in sport, even if you refuse to participate, -as you elegantly express it. To hear you talk, one would think you -were employed by the Anti-Everything-Healthy-League, and that you had -a special mission to fulfil in saving everybody's soul--at the -expense of his body, of course! It's enough to make the poor old dad -turn in his grave to hear you go on as you do. If he were alive, -he'd be the very first to back me up." - -She glanced at the clock, and jumped up. - -"Time and trains wait for no man," she said. "Run off to your -laboratory, old chap, but before you go, give me a kiss--and your -blessing." - -She stood up on tip-toe to meet the Professor's chaste salute, -imprinted somewhere in the neighbourhood of her ear. - -"Expect me when you see me," she said maliciously as she made for the -door, "and don't be surprised if I return in pads. There's sometimes -an accident at Trotting, you know." - -The Professor ambled towards her, shaking his head apprehensively, -but Gay was half-way upstairs. She had only just time to catch her -train, and would get down to Inigo Court by half-past three, with -time enough to give the horses their work out round the track. - -Tugwood had promised to borrow a speed wagon of a different pattern -for her to drive in, for her disregard of public opinion did not go -to the length of perching on a seat the size of a soup plate, with -her legs stuck out on either side of the horse, which was the usual -mode of progression. - -On the journey down, she read the _Trotting World_, a journal devoted -to the interests of the sport, and was delighted to find a paragraph -about herself and Trotters in it. - -"If a few more people of Miss Lawless' and Mr. Carlton Mackrell's -class and position could be induced to patronise Trotting," she read, -"the sport would soon assume its proper standing, and become, as in -America, a national pastime." - -Gay walked briskly along the country road leading to Inigo Court, and -made her way to the stables. There she found Tugwood in Silver -Streak's box, the horse already harnessed, and ready to be put to the -wagon. - -"Horses all right, Tugwood?" Gay asked, pulling on her driving -gloves--thick bus-driver's gloves they were, bought on Carlton -Mackrell's recommendation. - -"Never better, miss, thank'ee. Silver Streak don't want too much -work to-day, with 'is race so near, an' 'e's pretty fit. I 'ad 'im -out early this mornin', just to work off any stiffness 'e might 'ave -after a good spin against the watch yesterday. A mile easy at -'arf-speed, at a three-minute gait, is about all 'e wants now." - -Gay laughed. - -"I hope I shall be able to steady him," she said. "He does 'take -hold' a bit sometimes, doesn't he?" - -"On'y when 'e's racin', miss. 'E don't like to see nothin' in front -of 'im. I expect you'll be surprised at the pace 'e goes, an' think -'e's runnin' away. But 'e ain't really, you know," he added -reassuringly; "'is manners is too good to bolt with anybody, let -alone a lady." - -He chuckled at his joke as he helped Gay into the wagon, which was a -boat-shaped Benjamin, weighing 46 lbs., the body much like the seat -of an outrigger boat, with rounded ends to break the wind. - -She made a very pretty picture as she sat in the wagon, excitement -and the bloom of health showing in her face. As Tugwood led the -horse on to the track, in accordance with instructions, she slipped -her wrists through the loops in the reins, and planted her feet -firmly against the foot-rests. - -"Don't be nervous, miss," Tugwood urged. "Just keep a nice steady -hold on 'im, an' keep in the middle of the track. Time enough to -think of cuttin' the corners when you know more about it." - -Gay had no intention of cutting the corners, and devoutly hoped that -Silver Streak had none either, as Tugwood stepped to one side. - -"Jog him, miss," he said, "and gradually let 'im out." - -Gay did as she was told. Silver Streak "got into his stride" with a -suddenness that was a little disconcerting, ready as she thought she -was for it, and the wagon shot forward, while her arms felt as though -they were being pulled from their sockets. - -Shifting her position as soon as she had recovered her balance, she -hung on to the reins like grim death, and steered for the middle of -the track, as Silver Streak was evincing a partiality for the rails -that spelled probable disaster at the bend, unable as she was to -balance him properly. - -The horse stretched himself out to his work in grand style, and -before they had rounded the first turn, Gay felt convinced he was -running away. The pace was tremendous, while the wind whistled past -her ears and made her face smart with its force. She took a pull at -the horse after the way she had seen drivers do when pulling up after -a "brush," before a race started, but at once felt the uselessness of -it, and was not surprised when Silver Streak pulled back, though his -pull was of considerably greater strength than hers, and resulted in -another temporary loss of balance, this time nearly over the -dash-board. - -The horse's hind feet were much too close to be pleasant, and she -earnestly hoped he would not cast a shoe, which, for a certainty, -must fly into her face, or so it seemed. Along the back stretch she -cast a glance in Tugwood's direction, half expecting to see him -brandishing his arms, or covering his eyes to avoid seeing her -untimely end, but no such view met her gaze. On the contrary, he was -leaning over the rails in an attitude that betokened an easy mind, -and as she turned her head, he clapped his hands repeatedly, thus -conveying to her the reassuring news that she was doing well. - -She negotiated the home-bend nicely, though by this time her arms had -begun to ache in earnest, and her breathing was not so regular and -easy as on foot. Now her natural fears had subsided, she felt that -she was having the time of her life, and disregarding her trainer's -instructions, actually encouraged Silver Streak to go faster. This -the horse did, and made the pace a cracker on the second circuit, -though even then he was by no means going his fastest. - -Approaching the spot where Tugwood was holding up his hand as a -signal to stop, she took another pull at Silver Streak, but with as -little result as before. Another pull, but with a like effect--the -horse was evidently enjoying himself, and intended to complete -another circuit. Gay's horrified look as she sped past, sitting back -as far as she could, and hauling at the reins, brought a smile to -Tugwood's face. - -"Finds it ain't quite so easy as it looks," he said to himself, -though with no anxiety, but as the wagon bore towards him again, he -opened the gate leading to the stables, and walked down the track -with outstretched arms to meet it. - -Silver Streak saw him, and pricked his ears, at the same time slowing -down till he dropped into a walk almost on the top of his trainer. -Gay heaved a little sigh of relief as they turned off the track. She -was quite numbed with the cold, and her feet felt like lumps of lead, -while her hands shook violently from the strain, as she disengaged -them from the reins, and jumped to the ground. - -"That was ripping!" she said, stamping her feet. - -Her voice sounded catchy, which was not to be wondered at after so -much excitement, crammed into such a short time. - -"I hope the extra lap won't hurt him, Tugwood?" - -"Not a bit of it, miss. Why, 'e wasn't goin' fast enough to keep -'imself warm at any time. You didn't do the first mile in much under -three minutes, I'll be bound." - -"Well," said Gay, "I've never travelled so fast before in my life, -behind a horse, anyhow. I wonder what the excitement of a race must -be like?" - -A mad idea to dress up as a man, and drive at the next Meeting -flashed across her mind, but she dismissed it as altogether -impracticable. Besides, it had been done before--in books, -anyway--and Gay was nothing if not original. - -"'Ow do you like drivin', miss?" Tugwood inquired, as he led Silver -Streak back to his box. - -"It's splendid!" Gay replied enthusiastically, "but it _does_ make -your arms ache, doesn't it? Mine feel all on fire now." - -"Ah, that always 'appens to a beginner," the trainer explained -indulgently. "You'll get the better o' that after a few more turns, -and learn to take a nice steady hold, just to feel his mouth, instead -of hanging on like grim death. I suppose you won't drive Maudie -to-night, miss? It's rather late, an' just on doin'-up time." - -"Oh, very well, I won't, then," the girl answered, "but you must not -think I am afraid, you know, because I'm not." - -"No fear o' that from one of _your_ stock, miss. I've heard tell of -your father, an' a better plucked 'un with 'osses never lived. I'm -always to be found here, miss, so if you'll drop me a line any time -you want a drive, I'll be waitin' for you." - -With the promise of a speedy return, Gay took her departure, quite -unaware that there had been an interested spectator of her work on -the track, in the person of Mr. Rensslaer, who by accident was -passing. He occasionally used the track in private for trying a -horse when too far from his own place, and happening to look over the -hoarding which enclosed the course, had seen Gay driving Silver -Streak in his wagon, of which Tugwood had begged the loan. - -The sight had greatly amused him, and as she passed, he ducked his -head, afraid of "scaring" the girl, for he saw at a glance that she -was a complete novice at the game, though he expressed himself -emphatically and aloud on her performance. - -"Now, that's what I call real sporting," he exclaimed, standing up in -his wagon to get a better view, though even then his head barely -reached the top of the hoarding. - -"Wonder who she is?" he soliloquised. "I'll go in, and inquire of -Tugwood when she's finished her work out. Mighty pretty girl, -anyway, though she don't look altogether as if she's enjoying -herself. That's a nice pure-gaited one she's driving--for England." - -At the conclusion of the spin, and after Gay had left the place, -Rensslaer continued his drive, turning in at the park gates, then -made his way round to the stables, where Brusher Tugwood, hearing the -approach of hoofs, left Silver Streak's box, and came out into the -yard to see who it was. - -His grim old face relaxed into a respectful smile, and he pulled at -his cap as the new-comer sprang out of his road wagon, looped up his -reins, and adjusted a horse-cloth with the quick dexterity of the -professional. - -Tugwood waited for developments, looking inquiringly at the powerful, -straight-hipped horse in the wagon, and Rensslaer was quick to follow -his glance. - -"That's old 'Marvel Girl,'" he volunteered, and gave her pedigree; -then immediately, keen enthusiasts both, they fell to talking and -comparing notes of doings on both sides of the Atlantic, Rensslaer -walking Tugwood restlessly up and down, the idea of his original -quest quite vanishing from his mind. - -"By the way," he said, suddenly remembering it, as he drew the -"cooler" off his waiting horse and folded it up, "who is that young -lady I saw going round the track a while ago in my wagon?" - -"That was my young mistress, Miss Gay Lawless, sir, and very kind it -was of you to humour her with the loan of that wagon; she couldn't -have done what she was so dead set on else. It was 'er first drive, -though where you see it from, I don't know, sir." - -"So that was Miss Lawless, was it?" Rensslaer said thoughtfully. -"I've heard the name only just lately. There was something in the -_Trotting World_ about her, and some horses she had bought. It is a -surprise to me to find a lady patronising Trotting." - -"Well," said Tugwood, not desiring to typify his mistress as the -example that proved the rule, "I shouldn't wonder if before long we -don't 'ave a duchess trottin' 'orses under our Rules, the same as -they do under the Jockey Club," but his tone lacked conviction. - -"I suppose you know Mr. Carlton Mackrell, then," pursued Rensslaer, -who himself did, and foresaw through him an introduction to Gay. - -"Know 'im, sir? I should think I did indeed," the trainer assured -him. "Why, it was me as introduced Mr. Mackrell to Trottin'," and he -drew himself up proudly. - -"Been fairly successful too, hasn't he?" Rensslaer inquired. - -"Remarkably so, sir, I'm pleased to say," said Tugwood, bridling, -"though I says it as shouldn't, seein' as 'ow I've 'ad the trainin' -of his 'osses till quite lately. I left Mr. Mackrell to come to Miss -Lawless, you see, sir, an' I 'ope to be as successful for 'er as I -was for 'im, though of course Miss Gay 'as only just started, so to -speak. I expect to 'ave a winner for 'er at the next meetin' 'ere, -sir--that 'oss you see goin' roun' just now. Silver Streak 'is name -is. Come an' 'ave a look over 'im." - -Together they entered the horse's box, where Tugwood proceeded to -recount Silver Streak's performances before he came into his charge. - -"A nice horse," commented Rensslaer, "though I should call him too -good-looking. Quite a picture compared to my mare outside, isn't -he?" indicating with a jerk of his head the rough-and-ready-looking -animal in the wagon. Certainly Silver Streak was more of the -race-horse stamp than the trotter, and the expert shook his head as -he looked him over from all points. - -"Not a record-breaker, I think," he opined, "and what is his best -time?" - -"Two-twenty on this track, sir," the trainer said, "though I think I -can improve 'im a lot on that time. In fact, Miss Gay thinks of -enterin' 'im for the Champion Vase, an' though I won't go so far as -to say he'll win it, some of the others will know they've been racin' -before they're done. There's some good 'osses with form be'ind 'em -waitin' with a view to that race. Demonstrator's one of 'em, an' Mr. -Mackrell's Billy Q., wot won at the last meetin' 'ere, is not out of -it by a long way. From what I know of that 'oss--an' I trained 'im -for all 'is races--'e'll very near win it. Whatever beats 'im will -win any'ow," he concluded. - -"Well, we shall see," replied Rensslaer. "I must be off now, but -you'll see me again before long. What did you say Mr. Mackrell's -present address was?" - -Tugwood did not remember having mentioned it, but he replied: - -"The Bachelors' Club will find 'im, sir, though I shouldn't wonder if -'e don't 'ave to resign there afore long from wot I can see of it," -he added to himself, but Rensslaer heard him as he climbed into his -wagon and drove off. - -Tugwood, left alone, shook his head gloomily. His late visitor's low -estimate of English horses annoyed him by its assurance; he also -resented the slur Rensslaer cast on the sport by abstaining from it -in England, while practising it in most of the big capitals of -Europe. A fine sportsman, with one of the finest, if not _the_ -finest, stable of Trotters in the world, he was the very man to -elevate and establish the sport firmly here, and it was with a sense -of depression that Tugwood gave Silver Streak his evening feed, and -remained to watch the horse eating it up. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -GAY TRIUMPHANT - -In a spirit of pure mischief Gay had invited Lossie Holden to -accompany her and Chris Hannen to see Silver Streak's début, and they -drove the short distance from the station to Waterloo Park in -excellent spirits, Gay all impatience to see her horse trot, and -Chris as interested as he could ever be in anything outside his own -stable. - -Lossie was entirely out of sympathy with Gay's natural excitement; -all sporting tastes were low, she considered, and Trotting quite the -lowest of them all. She could not understand a woman possessing the -healthy, out-door instinct--a girl's first duty, she considered, was -to herself, and her time was much better employed in making herself -as attractive as possible in the eyes of men, than in sharing their -rude pursuits. Man was woman's lawful spoil, and for her part she -quite understood why the "manly woman" remained a spinster, and by -not attracting, failed in her mission in life. - -In this, as in other matters, Lossie's view was too narrow to be -correct, for she could not separate Gay, with her healthy love for -horses, and dogs, and an open-air life, from the muscular, -loud-voiced, corsetless Amazons who are so frequently much better -athletes than men, and well able to protect the lady-like creatures -in breeches they usually marry. - -Chris noticed the contrast between the two girls especially that day, -Gay, looking the picture of health, and thoroughly alive in her plain -tweed frock, her workman-like gloves, and stout boots, intent on a -good day's sport, and exulting in the part she was to play, and -Lossie, "dressed to kill," with her bored, petulant air, tilting her -nose (a very pretty nose, too, Chris had to admit), whenever a -fly-load of "mellow" Trotting men galloped past. - -Arrived at the course, Chris obtained a race-card that they were busy -discussing, when a hearty voice called out at Gay's elbow: - -"How are you, Miss Gay? Well, I _am_ glad to see you again." - -Gay turned to see Min Toplady, and while she took in the opulent -splendours of her attire, with a delighted side-glance she caught the -disgusted look on her cousin's face. - -"Dear old Min!" she cried, embracing her old friend heartily, then -with a quick, mischievous glance at Chris, she dragged the somewhat -flustered Min up to where stood Lossie Holden, a supreme figure of -elegant disdain. "Why, Lossie, surely you've not forgotten Min -Toplady, my dear old nurse," cried Gay. "All my friends are Min's -friends, aren't they, Chris?" - -"Of course," he replied, with difficulty keeping his countenance, so -tickled was he by Lossie's, then raising Min's tightly-gloved hand to -his lips, respectfully kissed it. "Min and I are old pals, and I -really think she's beginning to quite approve of me at last?" he -added with twinkling eyes. - -"Oh, you'll do, Mr. Chris," Min said, laughing, "until you break your -neck with your silly jumping." She was very quick, and knew that the -young man's instant ranging of himself on her side was due to -Lossie's frigid acknowledgment of her presence. - -"Well, Miss Gay," said Min reproachfully, "I've been expecting you to -look me up at the 'Trotting Nag,' Camberwell--I always tell Bob it -was the name of our 'pub' that started us at the Trotting game--but -you'll be more than welcome when you _do_ find time." - -Gay promised eagerly that she would come soon, and Carlton Mackrell -appearing at that moment, they split up into groups, he remaining -with Lossie Holden, who regarded with horror the progress of the -others to Min's wagonette, where, with exaggerated gusto, Gay -assisted Chris to partake of sherry and sandwiches. - -"She don't alter much," said Min, glancing at the distant Lossie, now -exercising all her fascinations on Carlton, but when Gay with her -usual generosity urged that Lossie did not have much of a time, Min -interrupted her majestically. - -"Don't make no excuses for her, Miss Gay; what she always was as a -mite she is now. I've got her weighed up to an ounce, my dear, and -if she's a _real_ friend of yours, and not a spiteful, jealous cat, -I've made a mistake, and I don't make many among my own sex, if I -_did_ make a bloomer when I took up with my old man--" And she -beamed upon the enormous and delighted Bob, who had just come up, and -acknowledged the soft impeachment with a prodigious smile. - -"There goes the bell for the horses to get on the track for the first -heat; let's go into the enclosure, and watch the 'plugs' go round," -cried Gay, and off she and Chris went together, Gay running back for -a moment to give Min a "tip." - -"Mr. Mackrell thinks my horse will win his heat and the -final--Brusher Tugwood drives, and he knows the horse. He's very -sweet on his chance. Mind you back ours, Min dear, and tell your -friends to 'help themselves,' as they say." - -The first heat over, Gay and Chris went off to the stables, Carlton -Mackrell and Lossie joining them. Mackrell studied his card as they -went along. - -"You are sure to win your heat," he said, "and the time of your -horse, and the other two heat winners, will tell us what chance you -have in the final, but according to the conditions of the race, I -think it's a good thing for you." - -Chris smiled. He had seen too many "good things" come undone, though -in this case there were no fences in the way, he reflected. - -They arrived at the stables in time to watch Brusher Tugwood put the -finishing touches to Silver Streak's toe weights. The horse looked -splendid, and Gay's brand new colours--blue and white hoops--showed -up brilliantly in the wintry sun. - -Gay walked beside her driver while he led the horse to the track -gates. - -"This _is_ a good thing, isn't it, Tugwood?" she inquired anxiously. -"I do so want to win the first time out, you know, though I oughtn't -to expect it," she added. - -"We shall win all right, miss," Tugwood assured her. "Do you pop -into the ring and back me as if money--or price--was no object." He -climbed into his perch, and turned on to the track, where he let -Silver Streak stride along at about half-speed. - -By the time Gay and the others had got back to the stand, the second -bell had rung, and the horses were jockeying on their marks for a -start. Gay had invested, through Carlton Mackrell, a couple of -pounds on her horse for the driver, Tugwood, and the odds of four to -one were obtained. - -She would not bet herself. "I don't approve of regular betting," she -said; "besides, I shall get five pounds if I win this heat, and fifty -pounds, actually fifty golden sovereigns"--she clapped her hands and -laughed as if she had never seen so much money before--"if Silver -Streak wins the final as well!" - -Bang went the pistol, and the horses were off. - -"You've won it now," Carlton Mackrell said quietly, his eyes showing -his appreciation of the consummate skill of Tugwood in getting off -like lightning, and almost in his stride. - -Though they had to go three rounds for the mile and a half, the value -of a good beginning was soon made obvious as Silver Streak swooped -down on the horses in front of him approaching the first bend. Along -the back stretch he improved to third place, and though the leader -was thirty yards and more to the good there, Carlton Mackrell knew -that Silver Streak's driver was only biding his time, and would win -comfortably, without distressing his horse with a view to the final. - -"I do believe he will win!" Gay cried breathlessly, as the horses -passed the stand, the same one leading, while Silver Streak and a -pacing mare called Mrs. Wiggs were racing side by side. - -"No doubt of it," Carlton Mackrell assured her. "Let me congratulate -you." - -Gay laughed rather nervously. - -"Thank you," she said, "but not yet. Oh, look, there's -something--Mrs. Wiggs, isn't it?--that's passing Silver Streak now. -Why doesn't Tugwood go after her?" - -The apparent catastrophe occurred on the back stretch approaching the -turn. Chris, looking on, noticed it, and prayed that Mrs. Wiggs -could not sustain the effort. He saw, too, that the pair had -considerably decreased the leader's advantage. - -"It's all right," Carlton Mackrell declared. "Tugwood will make his -effort--an easy one, too--directly they get into the third lap." - -And so it proved. Mrs. Wiggs' advantage was only temporary, and -directly Tugwood asked Silver Streak to catch the leader, he did so -in decided fashion, and Gay breathed a sigh of joy and relief as -Tugwood put the issue beyond doubt fifty yards from the box, and -jogged in, a two-lengths winner, in 3.36 from scratch. - -"Oh! I'm so glad!" Gay exclaimed, and indeed she looked radiant, and -altogether adorable, as she received from the two men congratulations -so warm that Lossie's silence was quite overlooked. - -The beauty was quite out of her element, and took no pains to hide -the fact. How Gay _could_ mix with such awful people she did not -understand, and she registered a vow that this was the first and last -visit she would pay to Waterloo Park, or any other of the Trotting -Meetings. - -It was adding insult to injury, too, for Gay to openly show her -friendship with that vulgar person, Min Toplady. She looked angrily -in the direction of the carriages, where the "vulgar person's" purple -gown refused to be overlooked, and Min was clearly in _her_ element -as she dispensed hospitality with a lavish hand, while Bob conducted -an earnest conversation with a professional driver. - -"What's the matter, Lossie?" Gay inquired suddenly. "I'm afraid -you're not enjoying yourself." - -Chris and Carlton Mackrell exchanged glances, both prepared for the -same reply. - -"No, I'm not," she said positively. "What you can see in this -rabble, and travesty of sport I'm sure _I_ don't know--I mean," -suddenly remembering, and turning a dazzle of blue eyes and smiles -upon Carlton Mackrell, "from a woman's point of view, of course. I -quite understand the fascination driving your own horses has for you, -Mr. Mackrell, but I can't admit that it's quite a nice thing for a -girl--" But she spoke to unheeding ears, for he had divined Gay's -wish that he should take her to the stables, and when he suggested -it, she went with him eagerly. - -Leaving Lossie and the unwilling Chris together, they made their way -through the Ring, Mackrell drawing ten pounds from his bookmaker, who -begged him "not to do it again." Her original stake of two pounds -Gay put in her pocket, tightly clutching the remainder in her little -fist. - -They found Tugwood assisting a lad to rub Silver Streak down, and -highly pleased with himself. He magnificently waved Gay's -outstretched hand containing the eight pounds away. - -"Leave it all down, miss, please," he said; "put the lot on our 'oss -for the final. We shall win outright now, for the best field was -behind me in the first heat. You understand the market 'ere, sir, -don't you?" he asked Carlton Mackrell, "so don't forget to distribute -the money among the bookies. A quid 'ere, an' a couple there, you -know, sir, though you won't get such a nice price again. It's -wonderful 'ow they pinch the price for a heat winner for the final." - -Together Gay and Carlton watched the next four heats, Gay taking -particular interest, naturally, in the heats which concerned her -race, and when the horses turned out for the eventful final, Carlton -Mackrell walked down the rails to speak to Tugwood, for he had seen -something in the second heat that he knew would be valuable knowledge -to the driver, and this he told him. He had barely time to get back -to the stand before the bell rang to announce the start. But Silver -Streak did not get off so well this time, and for the first circuit -of the course only improved two places. Passing the stands he was -fourth, the heat winners and two fastest losers being qualified to go -in the final, and Gay's expressive face looked the picture of despair -as the horses sped past to the turn. - -"He'll never catch the leaders," she exclaimed; "they're all going -well, faster than they went in their heats, it seems to me. Whatever -does Tugwood keep looking round at that crimson jacket behind him -for? I don't see any sense in it; it's those in front he has to -beat, not that one." - -Carlton Mackrell laughed. - -"He's doing what I told him," he answered. "The crimson jacket is -the real danger. Look!" - -As if to prove his words, the pacer mentioned suddenly increased his -speed in a great effort to pass Silver Streak. Tugwood instantly -responded, and a great race for supremacy began between the pair. -The terrific speed they were going at, took them past first one -leader and then another, while from the enthusiasm among the -spectators on the stands, it was apparent that they regarded the race -as a match between Silver Streak and the crimson jacket. - -Rounding the home bend into the straight in the last lap, there were -still three in it--the trotter which had led throughout, Silver -Streak, and the pertinacious crimson jacket. Each driver was doing -all he knew, but Tugwood had the inside position, which he kept with -a bit to spare, thus compelling the other two to go wide at the turn, -and Carlton Mackrell and Chris both appreciated his fine and -legitimate driving. - -A great race ensued up the straight, all three horses' names being -shouted in turn, each exhorted by their respective backers to "go on." - -Amid a storm of cheers and encouragement the three flashed past the -box, but Carlton Mackrell, from his intimate knowledge, knew that the -one, two, Tugwood had given Silver Streak a few yards short of the -judge, had done the trick, and snatched a bare victory. - -Gay was trembling with excitement, while even Lossie sufficiently -forgot herself to stand on tiptoe to watch the number board. - -"It's all right," Carlton Mackrell announced. "He's putting No. 3 in -the frame, and that's yours. Won by a neck, I should say, all out, -in 3.32½." - -Gay heaved a deep sigh, and then they all went on to the track, and, -after Tugwood had dismounted, accompanied Silver Streak in a body to -the stables. - -The crowd gave Gay a hearty cheer as she passed the Ring, and this -completed her cup of bliss. Min Toplady showered congratulations on -her, and was so pleased that she actually smiled at Lossie, hastily -composing her face the moment she realised the mistake. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -AT THE "TROTTING NAG" - -It was by deliberate intention, not accident, that Lossie found the -Professor alone on the day following Silver Streak's victory, and -conveyed to his mind her own epicurean disgust at the associations to -which Gay's new Trotting mania had exposed her, though jealousy at -the increased opportunities of her cousin for meeting Carlton, was -really at the bottom of her interference. Lightly, but maliciously, -she ran over the whole scene, the surroundings at Waterloo Park, so -utterly different to those of an ordinary race meeting, and, so far -as she could see, without a gentlewoman present save Gay and herself. -But when, in speaking of the "public-house ladies" present, she -mentioned Min Toplady, the Professor visibly stiffened. - -"A most estimable woman," he said, "and nurse to all the younger -members of our family. She adored Gay, and though we lost sight of -her on her marriage, I don't know anyone from whom my sister would -take better a word in season than Minnie. I am shocked to hear that -the poor woman has taken to racing--married a sporting publican, I -fear." - -Lossie shrugged her graceful shoulders as her appraising glance ran -up and down the Professor's handsome, if unbraced, figure and face, -then round the pictures and appointments of the room in which they -sat. After all, she might do worse, if--if--but Gay was not going to -have it all her own way with Carlton Mackrell. Chris Hannen was -_her_ man, and the sooner she realised it the better. - -"I have a great mind to go and see Minnie," said Frank nervously, -"and get her to use her influence with Gay--but I don't know her -address-- - -"Oh," said Lossie, with curling lip, "_I_ can tell you--the "Trotting -Nag," Camberwell, which is precisely the place and neighbourhood -where, from her appearance, you might expect to find her!" - -"Now, now," protested the Professor, for unkindness is not so much a -matter of speech as of atmosphere, and he thought it unbecoming that -so lovely a creature as Lossie should be so acrimonious. - -And yet he pitied her, without parents, without money, though why she -had not married long ago, and brilliantly, was a puzzle to more -worldly people than the Professor. - -"Poor Frank," she said, "I'm afraid you'll find her much more Gay's -ally in the matter than yours. Why don't you put your foot down -_yourself_, and insist on Gay's giving up this disreputable business?" - -The Professor sighed, and Lossie longed to shake him. Fearing that -she might be tempted to do so, she got up to go, and she was so tall, -and at that moment so beautiful in her contempt, that an unwonted -thrill ran through him. After all, he was only a man, and not such a -very old one at that, and reading him perfectly, she put up her face -to his, and murmuring, "Dear old Frank!" kissed him with rather more -than cousinly warmth in farewell. - -He stood looking at the door through which she had passed with what -Gay called his "gay old dog" air of reminiscence; then his thoughts -reverted to Minnie, and her good influence over Gay when the latter -had been a wilful, charming child, and on the spur of the moment he -decided to go and see her. - -It was lucky that Gay was out. It would never do for her to -intercept him, and inquire where he was going, for he had a wholesome -dread of his sister's discerning eye. - -Upon such occasions as he invented "taradiddles" to cover more or -less unlawful excursions abroad, he was invariably bowled out, and -stood disconsolate, and looking justly sheepish at the emphatic -"Rubbish!" with which they were received. - -"You're a bad liar, Frank," Gay said one day, "and wouldn't deceive a -child. But why lie at all? Besides, your memory isn't good enough." - -Now he hailed a hansom, and darting into it as quickly as a rabbit -into its burrow, through the trap-door gave as his destination, the -"Trotting Nag," Camberwell, looking, moreover, so guilty and -self-conscious, that the cabby smiled broadly as he gathered up the -reins, and chirruped to his horse. - -"Looks more like the British Museum than a 'pub,'" he said to -himself, "but, Lord, appearances is such liars!" - -The Professor squeezed himself into a corner of the cab, and tried to -marshal his ideas and line of attack. He did not relish his job, as -he had a lively recollection of Min Toplady's temper years ago, -before she was married; he hoped that matrimony had softened her -downrightness considerably, and also that her husband would be there. -He felt he could count on his sympathy, if not on his support, -because men always hang together where a woman is concerned. - -Throughout the long drive he talked nervously to himself, and -attracted much attention by his silent rhetoric and expressive -gestures. His Jehu passed the wink to such other Jehus as -congratulated him on his fare, and having peeped through the roof in -the middle of one of the Professor's most impassioned appeals, -reassured interested curb-loungers by tapping his head significantly, -and turning his eyes heavenwards. - -Arrived at the "Trotting Nag," the Professor was most reluctant to -leave the security of the cab, and merely met the cabman's reminder -that he had arrived at his destination, with an "Ah, yes; so I -observe." - -Finally collecting the fare from the depths of a waistcoat pocket, he -thrust it hurriedly through the roof, and hastily descended. Without -looking ahead, he made for the door of the public bar, entering with -a run, and cannoning violently against a navvy coming out, who had -consumed sufficient beer to become severely critical of the manners -of other people. - -This individual, having recovered his balance against the door-post, -promptly inquired "where the 'ell the old image was agoin' to?" But -the Professor had sought the far end of the bar, and was inquiring -nervously, and with many smiles, if Mrs. Toplady could be seen. - -A good-looking barmaid regarded him with speculation in her eye, then -remarked: - -"I think she is in. Is it about the gas?" - -The Professor assured her it was not, but quite a private matter, -upon which the barmaid withdrew, and a moment later Min Toplady -herself emerged, and gave an exclamation of astonishment. - -"Bless my soul! Why, it's Master Frank!" - -The remark attracted some attention in the bar, one of the customers -remarking that the Professor was "a bit old-fashioned" for a kid, as -Min raised the flap of the bar, and escorted her guest through it to -the parlour, where a few privileged friends had the right of entrée. - -It was empty now, the harassed Professor was relieved to find, and as -he stood before the fire, and looked anxiously through the door into -the bar, Min's hospitable mind mistook his meaning. - -"What will you be pleased to take, Master Frank?" she inquired, and -the Professor looked at her blandly as his fingers flitted lightly -round his face. - -"Take?" he repeated. "Oh, nothing, I thank you. I seldom indulge, -you know." - -"Oh, but you must have something, sir, if only for the good of the -house, as some of the boys say who have had more than is good for -them already, just on closing time," she insisted. - -The Professor thought of his errand, and in the exuberant presence of -Min, felt his courage slipping away from him. Perhaps a little drop -of something might revive him, he thought--a little "jumping powder," -as those sporting friends of Gay's would call it. - -But Min had already disappeared into the bar, and quickly returned, -bearing a small glass. - -"Being such a cold day, a drop of milk punch won't do you no harm, -sir," she said, putting the glass down before the Professor. "It's a -wonderful thing for warming the cockles of your heart, and it always -does my indigestion--to which I'm a martyr--a power of good." - -The Professor could trace no direct connection between the cockles of -his heart and Min's indigestion, but nevertheless he took the -proffered drink gratefully, and sipped it with the air of a -connoisseur, while Min sat down, and racked her brains to find a -reason for his visit. - -A silence ensued. The Professor was temporising, but by the time his -glass was empty, he felt a little more able to open the ball. - -"I suppose you wonder why I am here?" he suggested, standing on one -leg, and looking more like a heron than ever. "The truth is, I--er, -wish to speak to you about my sister's--er--infatuation--" - -"For Mr. Chris?" exclaimed Min, though all her sympathies were really -with Carlton Mackrell and his Trotting proclivities. "Well, Master -Frank, a good son makes a good husband all the world over--" - -"No, I am glad to say she has so far not committed _that_ folly," -said the Professor, "at least to my knowledge." - -Min snorted. What did this fossil know about love, indeed, that he -should speak so slightingly of it? The idea! - -"Infatuation for what, then?" she inquired. "Come, Master Frank, out -with it, and let's hear the worst, though I'm sure it can't be -anything very bad where Miss Gay's concerned." - -The Professor looked hopelessly around. Why did not Mr. Toplady come -in, he wondered? Men are so much easier to tackle than women, and -Min was always so brusque and business-like. - -"My sister's infatuation (there's no other word that meets the case), -is for a form of sport that I am given to understand is patronised by -people who have an even lower moral standard than the followers of -horse-racing. I refer to Trotting." - -Min Toplady bridled visibly, strong supporters as she and her husband -were of the sport he decried, and she began to see how the land lay. - -"Well, I'm sure!" she exclaimed. "You've got no business to speak -like that about what you don't understand. You'll excuse me, Master -Frank, but you don't know what you're talking about. Me and my -'usband goes Trotting whenever we can get away, and we don't consider -ourselves as dishonourable and low, as you seem to think Trotting -folk are, not by no manner of means--" In obedience to a gesture -from her, the barmaid appeared with a second glass of punch, deftly -removed the empty one from behind the Professor's back, and -disappeared. - -The Professor turned nervously round, and was agreeably surprised to -find a full glass awaiting his attention. Surely he had finished the -first? He supposed not, however, and really, after that tirade, he -felt the need of a little comfort. He raised the glass, and looked -through it to the window. - -"I did not mean to hurt your feelings, Minnie, far from it. I fear I -am unfortunate in expressing myself. I mean that people are talking -about my sister associating herself with a sport"--he hesitated for a -moment as though swallowing a bitter pill--"that as yet has failed to -attract people of her own class." - -Had Mrs. Toplady been a snob, here was another remark to form a bone -of contention. - -"I s'pose you think it's all my fault, then, sir?" she asked, -watching the Professor delicately sipping his punch. "I told Miss -Gay at Inigo Court it wasn't quite the thing for her, though I saw no -reason why she shouldn't go in for it if she chose. Trotting's all -right, take it from me, Master Frank--it's the sayings of a lot of -outsiders who don't know their book" (the Professor blinked, and -regarded his glass fixedly) "that gives it a bad name. Me and Bob's -been at it a few years now, and we've done a goodish bit of -horseracing in our time too, and always with the half-crown public, -so to speak. But I give you my word, I'd sooner be among the -Trotting lads than the proper racing crowd." - -"Might I inquire why?" said the Professor. - -"Well taken all round, they are a sight straighter than most of the -mobs who go racing in silk hats and frock coats, and don't you forget -it, Master Frank. I've had a good many things sneaked in a -race-course crowd, but I've never had my bag snatched at Trotting, -and never expect to. There's a freemasonry among them low people" -(the Professor winced and changed his legs) "that won't let 'em -interfere with you, even as a stranger on the track. There's bad -hats among them, of course, but somehow the fact that a man's coming -Trotting is a guarantee among 'em that he's all right, and unless he -_arsks_ for it, he'll be let alone, even if dressed in bank-notes. -They _may_ be all little men, butchers, fishmongers, and publicans--" - -She sniffed audibly, and the Professor squirmed; nevertheless, things -had begun to look more rosy to his view. That second glass of punch -had produced an elation of feeling which he had been entirely without -on his arrival, and now, as he put down his empty glass with -elaborate precision, and squared his shoulders, there was decision in -his tone, if a momentary loss of balance of his person as he said: - -"I am firm in my resolve, nevertheless, to put a stop to my sister's -utter disregard of the conventionalities." - -His voice sounded unfamiliar in his own ears; he found extraordinary -difficulty in separating the words that all ran into one another. -Things would be easier, he thought, if only his listener would sit -still, and not rock about in her chair so ridiculously. - -"I don't see what you want to interfere for, Master Frank," said Min, -checking a smile, "though for the matter of that, I don't s'pose Miss -Gay attaches much importance to it. Haven't you ever thought how -lonely her life is?" she broke out, remembering their talk at Inigo -Court. "She hasn't got very much to amuse her, and--you'll excuse a -bit of plain speaking--I'm afraid you're not much of a comfort to -her. She don't complain, bless her plucky heart, but it ain't -natural for a young girl like her to be cooped up in London with no -companion of her own age--for Mrs. Bulteel is nearly ten years older, -and 'most always with her husband, and Miss Lossie--well, she don't -count. 'Twould be small blame to her if she took up with -things--_and_ people--a deal worse than Trotting folks." - -The Professor resumed an erect position. This view had never been -brought home to him before; his own selfish life, absorbed in science -to the exclusion of all else, so contented him, that never a thought -had entered his mind about his duty to Gay. She seemed happy enough -always, he reflected, and because she never asked for anything, he -supposed she had nothing to ask for. - -Min saw her advantage, and pursued it. - -"It would serve you right if Miss Gay was to marry, and leave you to -look after yourself," she said severely. "I'm sure it's not for want -of chances. There's more than one, or two even, young gentlemen as -is head over heels in love with her now, and either of them could -give her more fun and sunshine than she ever had with you, Master -Frank!" - -Frank Lawless thought of the girlish glee of the telegram he received -on the day of Silver Streak's victory, "Won my first race--Hooray!" -and how he had not only failed to congratulate her, but lectured her -at dinner. He looked so crushed and miserable that Min's kind heart -relented; there were tears in his weak blue eyes, though whether -induced by self-reproach, or born of the unaccustomed punch, Min was -not prepared to say. - -Now she crossed over to him, and laid a kind, motherly hand on his -shoulder. - -"Don't take on about it, Master Frank," she said; "perhaps I've -rubbed it in a bit too strong. But if my advice is worth anything, -you won't try to deprive the child of the bit of harmless fun her -horses will give her, but thank your lucky stars that she's content -to stay at home, and look after you, instead of gallivanting about -all over the shop, like some folks, trying to get someone to marry -them!" - -She sniffed disgustedly, meaning Lossie, whom she suspected, and -rightly, of setting Frank against Gay's new fancy. - -"As for what people say, let 'em. Them as don't like it can lump -it--don't you worry--or worry dear little Miss Gay." - -The Professor felt a burning desire to lay his head down on Min's -ample bosom, and weep bitterly; he had not expected to be tackled so -vigorously, though he had known he would not have things all his own -way. - -"Buck up, Master Frank," Min encouraged him, "and have another drop -of punch before you go home. Your heart's in the right place--at -least it always was when I had the looking after the boys and Miss -Gay, and you only want just telling what to do, which is to let well -alone." - -The Professor accepted the punch (in a smaller glass this time) and -drained it at a gulp, though it was insidious stuff, he feared, and -treacherous. Dreading further criticisms of himself, he seized his -hat, and grasping Min's hand, worked it like a pump handle, then -started for the door with a little run, breathing a sigh of relief -when he reached the pavement. Fortunately, whatever his head might -be, his legs were of cast-iron, and he slipped nimbly enough into a -hansom, just managing to jerk out his address to the cabby, before he -fell fast asleep. - -The stopping of the cab woke him, and hurriedly paying the man double -his fare, he admitted himself with his latch-key, and proceeded on -tiptoe to his study to finish his interrupted nap, taking the -precaution to first lock the door. There was more of wily Brer -Rabbit in the Professor's composition than most people supposed. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE NOTORIOUS GAY - -Gay and the Professor were sitting at luncheon, the girl still highly -delighted with her recent success, and laughing as she described -Lossie Holden's disgust at Min Toplady. - -"She called her low, Frank, fancy that! Dear old Min, who was always -so good to us, and never said an unkind word. You remember her well -enough, don't you?" - -The Professor agreed that he did, though he felt that his recent -interview with the lady in question did not justify him in amplifying -his sister's description of her amiability. - -He fidgeted nervously with his letters (mostly circulars), then ran -his knife down the wrapper of a newspaper which lay by his plate. - -"Why have they sent me this, I wonder?" he said. He had not long to -wait for an answer to his question, for upon smoothing out the paper, -his attention was instantly attracted to the front page. - -The next moment, with a startled exclamation, he hurled the paper -from him, pushed back his chair, and walked to the window, rather to -Gay's astonishment, though he always became "light-headed," as she -called it, when anything but the obviously expected happened. - -She snatched the paper up, and the next minute broke into a ripple of -laughter. What she saw was a full-page illustration of the Trotting -at Waterloo Park, Silver Streak winning, and inset at one corner a -remarkably life-like snapshot of herself, in close conversation with -"Brusher" Tugwood. - -Below was some letterpress giving her name, and describing her as a -new recruit to the sport, with one or two personal compliments with -which she could easily have dispensed. The snapshot was deeply -blue-pencilled round, while in the margin appeared a big note of -interrogation, evidently ironic. - -"Isn't it _good_! How flattering!" she said provokingly, though her -thoughts flew to Chris, and how annoyed he would be. - -Her brother did not reply. His pride--or what did duty for it--was -mortally hurt. To think that his sister--the sister of Frank -Lawless, F.R.C.S., F.R.S., etc.--should be exploited in a public -print like any opera-bouffe girl--it was too much! - -"They'll call you 'the _Trotting_ Girl!'" he squealed. - -"Most women waddle," said Gay flippantly, "and if my action is -one-half as good as some Pacers I have seen, I am quite satisfied. -But are you sure it was addressed to you, Frank?" and Gay looked at -the wrapper to try to identify the handwriting, but found no clue -there. - -"Some justly indignant friend of yours--or mine--has seen this -rag"--he spoke bitterly, and without turning to face her--"and sent -it on with a commentary that speaks volumes for their opinion of your -taste. I hope you are pleased with your--notoriety." - -"I am," Gay replied emphatically--"delighted, and I hope it will give -a leg-up to a real good sport, though I don't flatter myself that my -connection with it will boom it much. What is there to be annoyed -about?" she went on. "Surely there's nothing so very disgraceful in -being snapshotted? I assure you I didn't pose for the photo." - -She thought it absurd that he should take the thing so seriously, and -not in the least see its sporting side, and now looked at the paper -again with a provoking laugh. - -"I think you ought to be proud of such a pretty sister," she said -pertly, "instead of standing there grizzling, and trying to belittle -my sporting tendencies. I'm awfully amused at it. Perhaps, in the -course of time, I may aspire to the dignity of the Sporting and -Dramatic, who knows?" - -The Professor did not reply, though his wrath was abating. Min's -suggestion that his sister might be driven to seek companionship and -recreation away from him had sunk into his mind, and though he could -not bring himself to encourage, or even tolerate, her deplorable -taste in sport, he was nevertheless wide-awake enough now to the -possibilities of existence without her. - -"It can't be helped, I suppose, my dear," he said at last, "but it is -to be regretted. Were it not for the degrading influences--" - -"Don't talk nonsense, Frank!" Gay interrupted. "You don't call Mr. -Mackrell degraded, do you?" - -"Of course not, my dear. I find him singularly refined for an--er--a -sporting-man." - -"Oh! when _will_ you learn the difference between a sportsman and a -sporting-man, Heron?" Gay asked piteously. - -The Professor declined to prophesy. - -"By the way," she said, "Mr. Mackrell is coming to tea this -afternoon, and has asked permission to bring Mr. Rensslaer with him. -He's the great driver and owner of Trotters, you know--I daresay -you've often seen his name in the papers--they say his stable -contains the pick of the horses of the world--but, of course, you -haven't," she added, laughing. - -"This place is becoming quite a sporting rendezvous," said Frank -spitefully. "I hope, at any rate, you will have the decency to -exclude reporters from your meetings." - -Gay stamped her foot. - -"Don't be absurd, Frank," she cried with spirit. "None of my friends -interfere with you, and you needn't shed the gloom of your depressing -countenance on the scene if you don't want to. I expect Lossie as -well, and I've no doubt she'd much prefer talking science (ahem!) -with you, to listening to us talking horses." - -"I appreciate Lossie's attitude towards sport as thoroughly as I -deplore yours," he said with unexpected energy. - -"That's all right, then," Gay replied cheerfully. "You two ought to -make a match of it. Why don't you?" - -The Professor actually blushed, and to cover his confusion, ambled -away towards his laboratory, while Gay puzzled over that blue pencil -mark of interrogation, in vain. - -Later in the afternoon, as she sat in the drawing-room awaiting the -arrival of her visitors, she looked very different to the little -tomboy who so lately had driven her horse round the racing track. -Dressed as usual in white, and almost buried in the depths of a -saddle-backed chair drawn up close to the fire, it seemed impossible -to associate her with the keen sportswoman, who openly declared that -she would walk ten miles to see a steeplechase or a trotting race, -and who rode and drove equally well. - -Or so, indeed, thought Rensslaer, as he followed Carlton Mackrell -into the room--possibly his expression showed a little of the -surprise he felt, for Gay laughed as they were introduced. - -"I suppose the women on your side don't do such outrageous things as -own Trotters, do they?" she said demurely, as Rensslaer shook her -hand heartily. - -"I always admire a straight 'sport,' man or woman," he said, looking -into Gay's grey eyes, "and I am proud to meet you." - -"Thank you," she replied simply. "Do sit down, and tell us all about -Trotting in America. I had no idea until lately that you were so -keen on it over there." - -Rensslaer blinked with those brown eyes of his, that looked so kind -above the big, nondescript nose, and brown moustache just streaked -with grey. He was so used to being taken for an American who had -made a speciality of owning and driving fast Trotters, that he seldom -took the trouble to explain how he had never set foot in the United -States, was born in St. Petersburg, had a French mother, and that to -cultivate Trotters was only one of his many pursuits. - -"Well, in America a man takes it as a personal reproach if another -man passes him on the road with a horse," he said. "Trotting there -is brought to a fine art, and apart from track racing, there is keen -competition in Trotting races, called 'Matinée Races,' that take -place with gentlemen drivers, much as polo is played at the London -Clubs of Hurlingham and Ranelagh. In fact, it is considered a -distinction to own and drive a fast trotter in America, Austria, and -Russia, instead of a man being rather ashamed of it as in England, -where, if you want something fast and showy, you prefer a hackney." - -Carlton shook his head--he honestly thought a trotting horse or pacer -going at full speed a far prettier sight, as did Gay, and they both -said so. - -"Ever since the big association agreed to a code of rules a few years -back," went on Rensslaer, "it has become _the_ sport of America. -Yes, it's curious," he went on reflectively, "that England, -considered to be the most horse-loving country in the world, has -never cared for Trotters, that while in Russia the Orloff Trotter is -considered fit for the Emperor to drive, and in the United States, -the President, in England he is always looked on as a butcher's -horse, and quite unfit to be seen in aristocratic society." - -"Well," said Carlton, "as I believe about three million pounds worth -of prizes are trotted for each year, it is no wonder the Trotter is -popular in America." - -Gay laughed, so did Rensslaer. When he laughed, he screwed up his -face till his eyes were invisible, and Gay found him deliciously -quaint. - -"But they play the game, Miss Lawless," he said. "In all countries, -except England, there have been ruling bodies over Trotting which -safeguarded the sport, but in England, till lately, everyone could do -as he liked, with what results may be easily imagined. Consequently -Trotting has got a bad name, and people fight shy of a sport which -does not rank any higher than prize, cock, and dog fighting." - -"But we're improving," exclaimed Carlton. "The last few years very -strong endeavours have been made to purify the sport in England, and -several Trotting Clubs have sprung up which impose heavy penalties -and expulsion on anyone not acting in a strictly honourable manner." - -"So I have heard," said Rensslaer drily, "but it will be a hard task, -as so many horses have been imported from America, then raced under -false names in England, and it is often impossible to trace the -original names of such horses. In short, there will never have been -any classes on this side for real American trotters, until they are -introduced at an International Horse Show here that we hope to -arrange. In all the so-called trotting races in England, they let -pacers start, and the public doesn't know the difference. They say -in consequence that the American trotter is no good, that he only -shuffles." - -"You are hard on pacers," said Carlton drily. "Well, a pacer of say -2.15 speed is very much less valuable than a trotter of the same -speed, so it is cheaper to get pacers than trotters, and anyone -having a really fast trotter has the mortification of being beaten by -a cheap second-rate pacer." - -"The fastest trotting breed of all is the American, of course?" said -Gay, eager to glean all she could about what interested her so keenly. - -"Yes, the Russian Orloff used to be at least some twenty seconds -slower, but now, with an admixture of American blood, they are -getting much faster, and one or two of the longer distance records -have been captured by Russian horses; very soon they will be quite -the equals of Americans, and in Italy and Vienna the native trotter -(which is really bred from imported American Russian crosses), is -getting very fast. At the present time a trotter to be a first-class -one must be able to trot in 2.8, a really extra good one in 2.3, a -pacer in 2.2 or under, as the pacers going under two minutes are -getting quite usual almost." - -"And where do the English trotters--my trotters--come in?" inquired -Gay, rather crestfallen. - -Rensslaer smiled. - -"As to the English trotter," he said, "there is no such thing. A -horse is not a trotter unless he can trot a mile in 2 minutes 30 -seconds, or faster, and no English horse can do that. All the horses -racing in England are American horses, or of American parentage." - -"Oh, come!" protested Carlton. "What about hackneys?" - -"Of course there are legends of wonderful times made by hackneys in -England early in the last century," said Rensslaer, "but when one -considers the shady nature of trotting in those days, and the rough -way of measuring distances--from such a milestone to such a milestone -(and sometimes a milestone was shifted during the night before a -match)--there is no way of being sure of any records." - -"You won't leave us a leg to stand on," sighed Gay. "I suppose -_you'll_ end by trotting a mile a minute!" - -"Well, the average speed of trotters in America increases year by -year. Ages ago, a professor worked out how long it would be before a -horse trotted in two minutes the mile, but it was trotted several -years before the time he had prophesied, though this was accounted -for by the improvement in sulkies. You see, the original -high-wheeled sulky with iron tyres weighed sixty or more pounds, and -some eight years ago the ball-bearing, pneumatic-tyred, -bicycle-wheeled sulky was invented, weighing only twenty-three pounds -or less, and this makes a difference of three or four seconds in the -mile, so the two-minute trotter came before his time." - -Carlton Mackrell nodded. - -"In hers, you mean," he said. "Lou Dillon. What were her best -times?" - -Rensslaer ticked them off on his fingers. - -"In 1903, at Cleveland, a mile in two minutes two and three-quarter -seconds," he said; "the same year at Readville, two minutes dead, and -the best of all, one minute fifty-eight and a half at Memphis. -That's travelling for you, isn't it--though the last time was made -with a pace-maker, and a wind-shield in front. But that doesn't get -away from the fact that the distance was covered in the time." - -"How wonderful!" Gay exclaimed, thinking into what insignificance -paled Silver Streak's performance at Inigo Court against such -lightning speed. - -"Dan Patch, too, the champion pacer," said Rensslaer reflectively. -"He paced to a record of one minute fifty-nine and a half, which -stands, though his absolute best was one minute fifty-six and a -quarter with a wind-shield in front. Star Pointer was another pacer -who did the mile in one fifty-nine and a quarter, with no assistance. -Then the best American tracks are mile tracks, and the English are -all two laps to the mile. Horses which trot in England cannot equal -the times they made in America, the tracks being at least five -seconds slower--that is to say, a horse which can trot in 2.10 in the -States is not likely to go faster than 2.15 on an English track when -he comes over to England." - -Carlton looked at the speaker keenly. - -Like most great men, Rensslaer was the essence of modesty, and not -one word had he said about his own stable, of certain famous horses -that he had driven in England faster than their American records, -driven with a superb skill that the public unfortunately seldom had a -chance of appreciating, as he did not exhibit. - -"Do record-breaking Trotters cost much?" inquired Gay, thinking of -the modest five hundred that the Professor never ceased to quote as -an instance of mad extravagance. - -"As much as twenty-one thousand pounds has been given for a Trotter, -and eight to twelve thousand pounds for a horse for driving on the -road is quite common," said Rensslaer. "A nine-year-old gelding has -been known to fetch six thousand, and is, of course, of no value -after his remaining few years of soundness are over." - -"Oh, how I wish the Professor were here!" cried Gay, and Rensslaer -looked at her inquiringly, then said: - -"You see, everywhere but in England, the premier horse-breeding -country of the world, it has become something more than mere -sport--breeding trotters is one of the recognised means of improving -the general utility horse (and especially the army horse) in every -country except Great Britain. Why, in Russia there are large studs -kept up under Government comptrole, and the same thing in France, -Austria, etc., it being recognised that the trotting horse can do -more work, and keep it up longer, than any other breed of horse." - -"And there is no such comptrole here," said Carlton thoughtfully. - -"No, it is a pity," said Rensslaer simply. - -"Why don't you race here?" exclaimed Gay in her impulsive way, and -Carlton wondered how Rensslaer would reply without deeply offending -her new-born craze for the sport. - -"Well," said Rensslaer, "I don't approve of letting pacers compete -with trotters, and also, I don't like the mile-and-a-half handicap -racing from standing post-- - -"I'm afraid you're proud," said Gay sadly, and at that moment the -door opened to admit Chris, who, true to his creed, gave no sign of -his deep disappointment at not finding Gay alone, though a little -surprised to see who her visitor was. - -He, of course, knew Rensslaer well enough by sight and reputation, -but took no particular interest in him, or his famous Elsinore -stable, in which steeplechasers, as apart from jumpers, were -conspicuous by their absence. Like the rest of the world, he judged -Rensslaer by his Trotting records alone. - -When Gay had introduced him to Rensslaer, the latter went on with -what he had to say in the quiet, chatting way that was so pleasant; -he never laid down the law, but was always interesting without trying -to be. - -"I must confess," he said, "that I like Class racing in mile heats. -This means that trotters in any given race must belong to that -"class"; for instance the 2.20 class is for horses which have not got -a record faster than 2 minutes 20 seconds for a mile. The horses -have a flying start, the race is trotted in heats of a mile each, -with twenty minutes' interval between heats, the horse winning three -heats first, getting first prize. Now, by the English handicap -method, a fast horse has to start behind, and it "breaks his heart," -and spoils a good horse, to have to try and make up several hundred -yards to catch a little shuffling butcher's pony, who has been given -that start of him. It is like making a man fight a boy, the man with -his hands tied behind his back so that he cannot defend himself, and -after a few such races a good horse gets sick of the whole thing, and -is spoilt as a race Trotter." - -"Oh!" cried Gay, all the more indignantly that at the moment she -caught Chris's eye with a world of meaning in it, "you are trying to -put me off Trotting--and I _won't_ be put off! After all," she added -naïvely, "I'm glad you are not racing, for I've set my heart on -winning the Gold Vase." - -"I hope you may," he said heartily, feeling that every moment he -liked her better. "But apart from racing, the fact is, your roads -are not made for trotters and pacers, and if you want something -showy, you prefer a hackney. In short, you run to dogcarts, not road -wagons; you're a sociable people--and in my opinion nothing will ever -establish Trotting as a favourite sport in England." - -Chris gave Gay a comical look, and picked up the _Looking-Glass_ -(that he had already seen, much to his disgust) which lay on a table -near. - -"Someone sent the Professor a copy," said Gay carelessly. "It had a -note of interrogation against it, and was meant to be rude, I think. -I wonder who it is that takes so much trouble about poor little me?" - -The door opened pat on the question, and Lossie Holden came in, a -radiant apparition, but as Rensslaer was introduced, "society," he -said to himself, then glancing at Gay, added "sport" with -appreciative emphasis. - -"What are you looking at?" she said coolly, and took the -_Looking-Glass_ from Chris's hand. "How nice! You might almost have -posed for it, Gay!" - -"Do you think so?" Gay inquired. "But I didn't, you know." - -"Of course not," Lossie agreed. "As if you _could_!" But meeting -Chris's eyes, she looked away--he had an excellent idea of who had -sent the _Looking-Glass_ to the Professor, and she knew it. - -"Why don't you drive yourself, Miss Lawless?" said Rensslaer quietly. - -"Oh, if I only dared!" cried Gay warmly, and clasped her hands -together eagerly. - -"Well," said Rensslaer, "in Berlin there was an outcry when a lady -drove for me, but in Vienna it was otherwise--quite a feather in the -lady's cap, in short. But then everything is done in such a nice way -that it is a pleasure to race there, and the Trotting races are the -most fashionable sport in Vienna." - -Chris's face was grave--the thing was getting beyond a joke. It was -all Mackrell's fault, and bad enough, without Rensslaer coming along -to encourage wilful Gay in defying public opinion at a sport that his -own refusal, and that of Vancouver and others, to take up in England, -had practically declared to be unfit for gentlemen. - -"Why not?" repeated Rensslaer, as he rose to go, and at something in -his voice Gay coloured. Surely it could not be possible that he had -seen her driving Silver Streak round the track at Inigo Court! But -already she knew him well enough to be sure that he would not peach -on her, and she longed to see him alone, that they might discuss at -their ease his daring suggestion. Gay earnestly begged of him to -come again soon, but neither Mackrell nor Chris displayed any marked -cordiality on taking leave of him. Lossie only was gracious, that -being her way with millionaires. - -"He seems to regard Trotting as a sort of public-house show," said -Carlton, when the other had departed, and Chris remarking rather -audibly that Rensslaer was not far out, Gay promptly turned her back -on him, and devoted herself to the comforting of her fellow-patron of -the noble sport. - -Very shortly, therefore, with a composure that completely hid his -disgust at an exceedingly disagreeable afternoon, instead of the -happy one with dear little Gay that Chris had expected, he made his -farewells, and departed. - -Gay, relenting, called out after him: - -"Don't forget that the Ffolliott's dance is on Friday!" But Chris -had by no means forgotten. In his own mind he had fixed on that -special evening to ask Gay a most particular question, and now that, -as he expressed it, she seemed like going "an awful mucker," with -Mackrell's assistance, it was more than ever important that he should -ask it, and have the right to protect her from herself--and others. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -GAY DISPOSES - -The Professor, Gay said, was always late. It was her solemn -conviction that he would be late for his own funeral, so she -considered herself lucky to get to the Ffolliott's dance at all, but -better late than never. - -Chris and Carlton Mackrell "ran her to earth," as the former -expressed it, the moment she entered the ballroom, and with other men -clamouring for dances, her programme was soon full. In vain had -application been made by both Chris and Carlton days in advance; -Gay's rule was firm. - -"I never give dances away before I get there," she said. "I regard -myself as public property on such occasions, and it's a case of -'first come, first served.' It's very unfair to the men who go to -dances to find a girl's card full before they have a chance, and I -won't do it." - -So Chris had got those supper dances, reflected Carlton Mackrell -presently, but she had been liberal also to himself, and he was -leading her away when the Professor suddenly exclaimed: - -"What time is supper?" - -"Supper! Why, you've only just got here! What are you thinking -about?" exclaimed Gay. - -"Supper," Frank Lawless answered mildly, with no intention of being -funny. - -"You haven't long had your dinner, you greedy old thing," Gay -reminded him as she moved away, "but _do_ put your tie straight!" - -She never had any trouble in finding the Professor, however big the -crowd in which he might be. She had only to look for a tall man -standing on one leg in a doorway, with his white tie under his left -ear, and there he was. - -On the rare occasions when he attended a dance, he possessed his soul -in patience till supper-time, when he did ample justice to the good -things provided, after which he sought a secluded corner, and went to -sleep until such time as Gay was ready to depart. - -"You haven't asked me for a dance yet, Frank," said a voice in -well-pretended tones of offence behind him, and his meditations--upon -supper--being thus rudely interrupted, he turned to make apologies to -Lossie, who in spite of her beauty and elegance was never surrounded -in a ballroom like Gay. - -"Shall we have this one?" she inquired, much to the Professor's -surprise and confusion. "Come along"--and before he could -remonstrate, she had manœuvred him among the couples waltzing by, -and he was executing his old-fashioned steps, precisely if not -briskly. After one circuit of the room, accomplished with -difficulty, and much bumping against indignant couples, owing to -erratic steering, the Professor stopped abruptly and made a rush from -the room, dragging Lossie by the arm with him. He subsided upon a -couch in an exhausted condition, and producing an enormous red silk -handkerchief, mopped his heated brow with it. - -"You're only a bit out of practice," she said, pretending not to -notice his little gasps for breath. - -"Shall we have the supper ones?" she said. "I've kept them for you, -and one square in the second half." - -"Certainly, certainly," Frank Lawless replied, scratching his -initials on her programme, "but _don't_ be late for supper. -Draughty, dangerous things dances," and he shook his head -disapprovingly. - -Chris Hannen, who had long had his suspicions of Miss Lossie's -intentions on the Professor (failing Carlton Mackrell), strolled up, -intent on mischief, and Lossie, pretending to see a friend in the -distance, left the two men together. - -"Rather out of training, eh, Professor?" said Chris chaffingly. "Not -quite clean inside, as they say. Come down to Epsom for a few days, -and ride a gallop or two; do you a world of good." - -The Professor shuddered. - -"I have not ridden for some years," he said, "though I was considered -a good horseman as a boy. Not across country," he explained. "I -used to ride every day in the park." - -"On a fat pony with a leading rein, no doubt," Chris thought to -himself. - -"I never jumped anything," the Professor went on earnestly, "but I -could hold my own on the flat--" - -"Of your back," Chris supplemented. - -"And I never hunted--" - -Chris believed him, as he waxed indignant over the cruelty done to -the fox in fox-hunting. - -"Why not trail a red herring across the country and let the hounds -follow?" he demanded excitedly. - -"If only some fox-hunters could get hold of you," cried Gay, who had -come up behind them, "there wouldn't be a bit of you left!" - -Chris chuckled as he led the girl away, but the eminent -gentleman-jockey did not look his old, confident self that evening, -and Gay put her own construction on it, as the band struck up a -lively waltz. - -"You're overtrained, old chap," she said, "too fine drawn--wasting -again, I suppose, to ride another glorious winner, or achieve a more -than usually severe purler"; but she did not, as she would once have -done, smile as she said it. - -"No," he replied, "I'm not overtrained, and I'm not anticipating -another 'downer' just yet--not at racing anyhow," he added to -himself, his face becoming serious. - -After a couple of turns, to Gay's disappointment, for he was a -perfect dancer, Chris steered her towards one of the doors, and led -her down a corridor to a sitting-out place, which looked more -secluded than it was. - -Here he deposited the astonished Gay, and sat down beside her. He -said nothing for a moment or two, and when he spoke, perhaps she had -an inkling of what was coming. - -"Gay, dear," he said, "I've got something to say to you, and I don't -know how to begin." - -He turned, and looked at her in her pretty white frock, and little -Empire wreath of vivid green leaves, but made no effort to take her -hand or touch her, for he was particularly undemonstrative, and -disliked nothing more than to see a man "mauling" a woman about--a -description he applied to the average man's way of making love. - -Gay said nothing. She longed to be able to help him, and to save him -pain if she could, for now the inkling had become a conviction, and -oh! how she did wish that he wouldn't-- Free from all conceit as she -was, she hated to have to give him the answer she had given so many -other men. - -And she was not far out, as Chris's words, very much to the point, -proved. - -"Will you marry me, Gay?" he said, very quietly, but with a little -tremor in his clear voice. "I know it's great cheek asking you, and -I can't do it in the proper way--the way they do in books, I mean," -he explained. - -Although very nervous, Gay could not repress a smile. - -"We've known each other a considerable time now, and though, of -course, while my mother was alive, the idea of marriage never -occurred to me, for she made me so happy--" he paused, then blurted -out: - -"You must not think that I'm asking you to fill her place, or make up -to me for her loss--no one could ever do that, not even you, dear -little girl." - -Gay, with tears in her eyes, in quick sympathy touched his hand--even -if he took this for encouragement, she could not help it. - -"I'm very lonely," Chris went on, "but it's because I love you for -your dear self, and think the world and all of you, that I ask you to -marry me. I'm very awkward at professing, I know, but you -understand, don't you? You always do." - -"Yes, I understand," Gay replied, as she dried her eyes with a tiny -handkerchief. "Poor, dear old boy, I know--but oh, Chris--" - -"Can't you?" he asked earnestly, leaning a little towards her, his -clean-cut face looking thinner and sharper in the dim light. "We -could be very happy." - -"There are so many things in the way," Gay said. "It isn't because I -don't care for you--you know that. There's Frank, you see, he's so -helpless even as it is, and without me he'd go all to bits." - -"He could live with us," suggested Chris, eager to overcome such a -trifling difficulty as this seemed. - -"I don't want to marry anybody for ever so long, Chris. Can't you -understand that I want to have a good time--be a _girl_ as long as I -can?" she said a little piteously. "And Trotting is my last, or, -rather, my new love." - -"Well, think it over, and start prejudiced in my favour if you can," -said Chris, striving hard to cover up his wound. - -Never show you're hit, was a maxim of his, and he lived up to it now, -though his disappointment was the keenest he had ever known. It is -always the man whose daring is most determined in the hunting field, -whose nerve is unshaken by all the obstacles to be met with over a -stiff steeplechase course, rising unruffled from a rattling fall, who -is the most gentle in all the occasions of life, and Chris was gentle -now. - -"But I've got a chance," he said, with more assurance than he felt; -"while there's life there's hope, you know, and a race is never lost -till it's won--though even then there may be an objection," he added -whimsically. - -Carlton Mackrell, who came at that moment to claim her for his dance, -and knew every change in Gay's expression, knew at once that Chris -had just asked her in vain the question that he himself, up to now, -had not done, for the simple reason that she would not let him. - -A man loses his head, is completely _bouleversé_, when a woman stalks -him, and ten to one, in sheer nervousness he gives her the desired -opportunity, but with the unwilling woman, every faculty comes into -play to defeat the lover's purpose. She develops strategic powers of -a high order, is an adept at keeping others round her, in never being -really alone with him, and while it is warming, exciting work for the -girl, it is an intensely irritating experience for the man. The -brute crashes straight through all obstacles to his end; a chivalrous -gentleman bides his time, as Carlton bided his, and in waiting, loses -his chance more often than not. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -RENSSLAER _PACE_ MACKRELL - -It was curious how that opportunity never arrived, and Carlton came -to regret very heartily the introduction that had resulted in the -rapid installation of Rensslaer as a friend of Gay's. - -Here was a man who had forgotten all that Carlton ever knew about -Trotting, entirely superseding him as mentor to Gay, and enjoying all -those sweets of her society that the lover had promised himself when -she took up the sport, yet he could hardly be said to feel jealous, -for love seemed the last thing likely to occupy Rensslaer's mind, and -women, as women, held not the slightest attraction for him. - -The two men had nothing in common, were almost antipathetic even, for -Rensslaer was always doing things, Mackrell only hovering on the -brink; even Chris, enthusiastic, dare-devil, lovable, had a definite -aim and pursued it, but Mackrell unhappily lacked the lash of need, -the spur of ambition, and had been gradually degenerating into an -idle, cynical, self-centred egoist when he met Gay, and to obtain her -became the one object and passion of his life. - -Gay, on her part, felt a lively gratitude to him for having -introduced her to Rensslaer; the man was so intensely interesting, -and so completely unconscious of it, that he was a constant surprise -to her, and she never knew a dull moment in his company. With -animals he was perfectly charming, as Gay quickly discovered, and -when one day she asked him if he thought there would be horses in -Heaven, he replied with perfect simplicity that he was _sure_ of it, -as cats would be there. - -Gay had rather demurred to this, as she liked dogs better, but the -Connaught Square cat being slung round his neck at that moment, she -swallowed the idea at a gulp, and was delighted to find that if he -had deeply studied the subject of religion, he yet held a very -definite belief in a future state, though possibly he believed it to -be a more workaday one than she did. It was to be a world very much -like this one, in which we continue the work we have done here, only -under better conditions, with a knowledge of our past mistakes to -profit by--and such animals as were the friends of man were to be -there; of horses, dogs, and cats he felt certain--especially cats, as -he had already told Gay. - -If it was in sport that he excelled, and there Gay was with him heart -and soul, their friendship had its serious side also. It was, -indeed, through accidentally taking up a book lent to her, that the -Professor afterwards discovered the "Trotting man," as he called him, -to be one of the finest classical scholars in the world, a good -mathematician, and owner of one of the finest libraries of rare -editions extant, and Gay declared she could not get in a word -edgeways when the two men met, and discussed learned scientific -problems. - -The great disparity in their age enabled her to say to him, what she -never would have done to either of the younger men, and one day she -confided to him her intense desire to drive herself in a Trotting -match--she knew it was wicked and quite impossible, but she had never -longed for anything so much in her life! - -She blushed vehemently as she said it, and Rensslaer smiled--nothing -could be kinder, more humorous, than that smile. - -"I've always meant to own up, Miss Gay," he said, "but I saw you that -time you took a trial spin at Inigo Court--and uncommonly well you -did it, too, for a beginner." - -"Oh!" cried Gay, and caught her breath, then leaning forward, said -almost in a whisper: "I'm just dying to do it again. I've been -_possessed_ with the idea ever since you told me a lady drove for you -in Vienna!" - -He laughed. - -"Why not?" he said again, in that way of his that no one else had, -and which made impossibilities not only possible, but easy. "I'll -take you down to Inigo any day you like after to-morrow, and you -shall drive one horse, and I drive another--" - -Gay sat erect, quivering with eagerness. - -"The Professor mustn't know--or Lossie," she said. "I'll get my -friends at Flytton to ask me down on Wednesday, and tell Frank -so--it's awful being so deceitful, isn't it?" she added deprecatingly. - -"You'll be doing no harm," said Rensslaer, getting up to go, for he -was at that time a very busy man--at a Hackney Show one day, in Paris -the next, all his arrangements to make for Olympia. Yet like most -busy men he was never in a hurry, and such an economist in time, that -he literally made it where lazy people could find none, and also do -those kindnesses that the idle do not. - -The Professor rather bristled at the idea of Flytton, but fortunately -Lossie did not call that day, so Gay escaped in good time the -following morning, and on arriving at the course found Rensslaer -there before her, superintending the harnessing by Tugwood of two -horses to two speed wagons. - -One horse was "Marvellous" (record 2.8½), the other a young one bred -in Austria, which was being prepared for the Austrian Derby. - -Gay was put in behind Marvellous, and after the hand-loops on the -reins were adjusted the right length for her, she was told to jog -once round the wrong way of the track, and then turn and stand at the -starting-post. - -She found the mare had a perfect mouth, but kept giving little -twitches with her nose to get her head free, and when the girl -stopped as directed, the American came up, and let down the mare's -check-rein. - -"The race you are supposed to be driving, is the usual English mile -and a half handicap heat," he said; "yours is the scratch horse, -consequently you will start from here, and go three times round the -track, the full mile and a half." - -Gay nodded. - -"My horse," continued Rensslaer, "is reckoned to be the limit horse. -I will start 210 yards in front of you. Handicapping is supposed to -be with the idea your horse can trot the mile and a half, at the rate -of 2 minutes 30 seconds for the mile, the mile and a half therefore, -in 3 minutes 45 seconds. Every ten yards means, roughly, one second, -so my horse being put 210 yards in front of you, means that he is -supposed to be 21 seconds slower than yours for a mile and a half, -that is to say, he has to trot at the rate of a mile in 2 minutes 44 -seconds, to make a dead heat of it with you." - -Gay nodded again comprehendingly, her eyes sparkling with excitement. - -"You must drive so as to gradually overtake me," went on Rensslaer, -"but not starting too fast, or you would pump your mare, if she could -really only trot a 2.30 gait, and you must not overtake me till you -get into the back stretch the third time. I have given you a very -fast mare, so as to make you judge speed, and also so as to make it -easier for you to be sure of overtaking me, as I intend to drive -strictly at no faster speed than 2.44 for the mile." - -"And fast enough, too," thought Gay, her heart beating a little too -quickly for comfort. - -"Carry this watch in your left palm, slipping the strap over your -hand," said Rensslaer, "so that you can see what speed you are going. -Try and drive the quarter miles in 37½ seconds till you come up with -me, which should be, if you drive to this time, thirty yards from the -winning post." - -He then hooked up Marvellous' check-rein, and told Gay to walk the -mare back from her starting-post twenty yards, turn back again, and -so on till she saw him at his mark, and then stand still at her mark. - -Tugwood stepped into the centre of the grass plot, and held a pistol -in the air. The moment Marvellous saw his arm raised (she had been -thoroughly schooled to this), she fixed her eyes and ears in his -direction, and commenced to tremble slightly. - -As the smoke came from the pistol, before Gay could hear the report, -Marvellous jumped forward with a jerk that nearly threw her out -backwards, and landed on a square trot. She was so much stretched -out that she seemed two inches lower than when standing, and was -sending the earth in quick hoof-fulls on to Gay's chest. It was -lucky, the girl thought, her eyes were protected by goggles. - -As soon as she had got over her surprise, Gay found she was gaining -very rapidly on her teacher, and close to the first quarter pole. -Glancing hurriedly at her watch, she found, to her horror, that the -quarter was done in 35 seconds, a 2.20 gait, so she said, "Hoo, -girl," and took a steadying pull at the mare, who came back to her at -once, although by the way she shook her head, she did not seem to -like it. - -As Gay drove, she thought that, as she had made up 2½ seconds too -much in the first quarter, she should drive the next in 40 seconds to -make the proper average, but when she got to the second quarter mile -she found she had overdone it, and Rensslaer was sailing away a full -half of the track in front of her. - -She therefore determined to rely on her own judgment of how fast she -should gain on him, and gave a gentle click to Marvellous, who -instantly lowered her head, and began to strike out, gaining rapidly -on Rensslaer; as she came into the back stretch the third time she -was just behind him. - -Round the last turn she drew up to him on the outside, and, in spite -of the much greater distance her mare had to go in turning, held her -place, and passed him just as they came into the straight. The mare -shot out of herself, and drew so rapidly clear of Rensslaer that Gay -thought she would make a close finish of it, and took back her mare -sharply. This was a fatal mistake, as Rensslaer shot up alongside, -and before she could set her mare going again, he had won by a head, -in 3.45½. - -She looked so taken aback that he controlled a smile as he told her -not to be disappointed, as it would be a good lesson to her, never to -slacken speed enough to let herself be caught in that way, but he -also told her that it was bad tactics to be alongside another horse -at the turns, as it takes so much more out of your horse. - -Here ended Gay's first Trotting lesson at the hands of a great -expert, and if she had been too ignorant, too excited even, to -appreciate the marked difference between "Marvellous" and the -Trotters owned by Mackrell and herself, she had yet realised that -this last experience of driving herself was something very different -to that first essay in which Rensslaer had surprised her. For many a -night after, she would wake up, throbbing with excitement, hoping -that she would find her dream, in which she re-lived those glorious -moments in a real race, a fact. - -"Oh! if I only dared!" she thought, but the plain truth was that she -did not dare. There was the Professor--the world--and--yes--_Chris_ -... though she scarcely owned it to herself, Carlton's opinion did -not count. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -SANDOWN GRAND MILITARY - -"Heron," cried Gay, waving a letter at him, across the breakfast -table one morning early in March, "I've got an invitation for you! -Effie and Tom Bulteel are taking their coach down to Sandown to-day, -and they want us to go with them. I heard all about it the other -night," she confided laughingly, "but I knew if I told you of the -treat that was in store, you'd plead an engagement, or shuffle out of -it somehow, and I _do_ so want you to come! A day in the open will -do you no end of good, and you'll get a ripping lunch (the -Professor's face brightened a little), though you'll have to do -without your afternoon nap, you know, unless you get inside the -coach." - -The Professor moved uneasily in his chair. - -"Why do you drag me into all these things?" he asked pathetically. -"You know how I detest society, and you promised to leave me in peace -if I went to the dance with you." - -"Yes, I know," Gay agreed, "but Effie made quite a point of your -coming to-day; you--you amuse her so, you know." - -The Professor did not appear struck with this form of flattery, and -half suspected that it was a plot between Gay and Mrs. Bulteel to -make him appear to throw a mantle of respectability over his sister's -racing divagations. Yet he had a sneaking desire to see for himself -what there was in racing to make so many empty-headed people happy, -and when he feebly urged that he had got nothing to wear, she knew -that the game was won. - -"Oh, yes, you have," she replied promptly, "that pepper and salt suit -of yours--you know, the one you wear on your holidays. It's quite -respectable--quite sporting-looking, in fact--and you can wear your -'Trilby' hat. (She exploded inwardly.) Altogether your rig-out's -splendid, and I shouldn't wonder if people took you for a trainer!" - -Frank Lawless looked offended, and made another attempt to escape. - -"I shall be entirely out of it," he said. "There is much to do in -there"--he nodded towards the distant laboratory. "Can't you make -some excuse for me?" - -"No, I can't," the girl answered firmly. "You're very seldom seen -anywhere with me, you know, Frank, and people must wonder whether my -brother is not a myth. Once you start, you're sure to enjoy -yourself, and perhaps there'll be a job for you if one of the -soldier-jockeys comes to the ground." - -But even the prospect of a "case" did not console the Professor. - -"I hope not," he said gravely; "you shouldn't joke about such things, -Gay," and he shook his head reprovingly. - -"Truly, I hope it won't be Chris," the girl answered, drumming her -fingers on the table, and looking thoughtful. "He's riding in the -Gold Cup, you know--a horse he trained himself." - -"Well," said the Professor with a deep sigh, "as it appears to be my -duty, I'll come. I hope they won't talk horses to me, though," -looking up anxiously. - -"If they do, agree with everything they say," Gay instructed him, -"because you don't know enough to contradict, do you?" - -"I have my own ideas," he answered complacently, while Gay devoutly -hoped he would give utterance to none of them, or she foresaw a rude -awakening before him. - -"We must leave here by eleven for Eaton Square," she said, "so toddle -upstairs in half-an-hour, and change your clothes. I'll put -everything out for you, including a pair of race-glasses, so you'll -_look_ the part, at any rate, even if you don't feel it." - -When the Professor reappeared again, after an absence of an hour, he -looked very nice and archaic, as Gay told him, though by no means -happy. - -"I am cold," he announced (and indeed his own skin was always his -first consideration), looking down at his well-worn suit; "these are -summer clothes, you know." - -"It's a glorious day," Gay informed him; "but of course you'll want a -top-coat. It'll be cold driving back, I expect." - -When they arrived in Eaton Square, the Professor was hoisted on to -the coach where he held on with both hands, and otherwise delighted -Effie during the drive. His conversation was of a spasmodic -character, interrupted by backward glances over his shoulder whenever -a corner was turned, and he heaved an audible sigh of relief when the -coach drew up in the enclosure. - -Effie surveyed the scene with approval. Her sympathies were not -particularly with the racing, indeed she only regarded it as a -necessary evil connected with bringing a crowd of people -together--and this was a very smart crowd certainly. - -She focussed her glasses on the moving throng in the members' -enclosure, open for this meeting only, to non-subscribers in the way -of soldiers, and their wives and sweethearts, and here and there she -recognised someone she knew. - -The Professor was cautioned on all sides to take care of himself, but -Gay took possession of him, and hurried him off to the paddock to -tout the horses for the first race. There were several walking round -in a circle on the crest of the hill, and while Gay stood as close to -them as she could get, checking the numbers on the lads' arm-badge -with her card, her brother kept at a more than respectful distance. -Presently a lad walking a horse up behind him, nearly frightened him -out of his wits with a business-like "By y'r leave, please," and he -executed a wild leap to safety, to the intense amusement of the -onlookers. - -Catching Gay's eye, he scuttled over to her, and tried to get her -away from the charmed circle, prophesying hysterically a kick from -one of the horses. - -"Don't be absurd, Frank," she replied, watching with interest each -one as it passed; "horses can't kick when they're walking. They're -not cows." - -The Professor remained unconvinced, however, and was greatly relieved -when Gay moved off in the direction of the weighing-room to see the -numbers and jockeys, but the frame with the mixture of figures and -names conveyed nothing to his mind. - -"Halloa! Chris rides No. 9 in this," Gay exclaimed, "let's see what -it is. Here we are--Mr. M'Nab's Irish Knight, four-year-old, 10st. -7lb. I wish we could find Chris; it may be a good thing--what he -calls a 'pinch.'" - -At that moment Chris Hannen came out of the weighing-room. A thick -frieze overcoat, cut to the knee, disclosed a thin kid workman-like -pair of boots, he wore a white scarf round his throat, while his head -was surmounted with a dark blue racing-cap. He was busy chatting -with the owner of Irish Knight, but as he passed through the gate -into the paddock, his quick eye noticed Gay, while a second -astonished glance discovered the Professor. - -He at once left his companion, and came quickly towards them. - -"How are you, Gay?" he cried eagerly. "Morning, Professor! Lovely -day for jumping, isn't it? Hope you won't be wanted" (the Professor -shuddered). "Excuse my apparent rudeness in not taking off my cap, -Gay, but I've been tied into it." - -Gay thought, with a pang, how drawn he looked, "but how -workman-like!" a moment after. - -"You didn't tell me you had two rides to-day," Gay said, as the three -walked off to look at the horse. - -"No," Chris replied, as they turned down the hill on the left to the -saddling-stalls. "I didn't know myself till just now. M'Nab -couldn't do the weight himself, so he asked me." - -"And is it a jewelled-in-every-hole, compensated-balance 'pinch,' -Chris?" Gay asked, laughing, as she stood by watching the trainer -place the tackle on Irish Knight. - -"I'm afraid not, though I've got more than an outside chance. I -can't advise you to gamble heavily on this occasion, but perhaps a -trifle each way will show a profit. You ought to get ten to one in -this field." - -The horse was led out, and Chris took off his coat, and handed it to -the lad. His owner, looking very disappointed at not having the ride -himself, saw Chris chucked up, then walked beside him to the -plantation avenue leading to the course. As they disappeared, with a -wave of the hand from Chris, Gay turned to her brother, and cried -enthusiastically: - -"Doesn't Chris look ripping on a horse? And can't he ride, too, -just! Let's get on the stand and watch the race, and I _must_ have -half-a-sovereign even, and place on him for luck." - -With one of the men on the rails she placed her wager, getting -eight's and even money for a place, then she and the bewildered and -annoyed Professor mounted the stand, to watch the horses go down. -There were nine runners, all soldier-ridden, a well-known amateur who -rode a lot in Ireland being up on the favourite. - -They all got safely over the first two fences, and as they galloped -past the enclosure, Gay pointed out Chris's scarlet jacket and blue -cap, lying fourth, to her brother. - -Each time the horses jumped, he gave a convulsive little leap into -the air himself, screwing his eyes up painfully, and only half -looking at the fences. - -"Terribly dangerous!" he muttered. "If one of those fellows fell -off, he must be killed." - -"Stuff!" was Gay's rejoinder. "Men who play this game are not so -soft and brittle as you, old boy. There they are again," pointing to -the left as the horses made the bottom turn. They were all on their -legs still, and as the Professor fumbled with the glasses, he -devoutly hoped they would remain so. For a surgeon he was a -remarkably nervous man, though he could operate with skill and -precision, with no thought but for the work in hand. But he could -not look at an accident, or anticipate one, without infinitely more -suffering--mentally--than the actual victim, and Gay wondered what he -would do if, as sometimes happened, half-a-dozen men were all on the -ground together ... which was precisely what happened, and it did not -need the terrified squeal beside her to inform Gay, that under a -_mêlée_ of men and horses, had disappeared a certain scarlet jacket -and blue cap. - -If Gay had ever doubted which it was of the two men laying such close -siege to her, she loved, she had no doubt at all when, through her -glasses, she saw a small patch of colour lying perfectly still, and -in the same moment discovered that the Professor had vanished. - -If terror had wrung from him that involuntary squeal, all his -professional instincts--and they were the keenest he possessed--were -instantly aroused by a "case," and he precipitated himself from the -stand with a rapidity that left Gay far behind, and never stopped -running till he had reached Chris. No other doctor had yet put in an -appearance, and with quick, clever fingers the Professor made a -cursory examination, and issued his orders rapidly and to the point, -here was the cool, astute surgeon, recognised as such and instantly -obeyed, as he superintended Chris's removal. The list of injuries -when tabulated proved a heavy one. There was no fracture of the -skull, but severe concussion of the brain, a collar bone and three -ribs broken, also a hip put out, but no internal injuries as far as -could be ascertained. Epsom was nearer than town, and the Professor -decided to take Chris straight home in an ambulance, and remain the -night with him, afterwards placing him in charge of a local doctor, -if no complications ensued. - -This he presently hurriedly explained to Gay, who, though deathly -white, was quite composed; her spirits rose even at the report, for -though Chris had had few worse "outings" than this one, at least he -was alive. - -"No doubt Mrs. Bulteel will look after you," added the Professor, as -he rushed away, and Effie did, knowing well enough that if Chris -Hannen had lost his race, and almost his life that day, he had beyond -all question only established more firmly his claim on Gay's heart. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -A BEAUTIFUL CASE - -"It was a beautiful case," said the Professor, looking rapturously at -Gay through his glasses, and he fired off a lot of technical terms -that she did not in the least understand, but inwardly shuddered at, -for it was Chris's flesh and bones of which he was speaking, and he -wound up by telling her of the cemetery so conveniently placed for -jockeys under the hill at Epsom. - -"When are you going to see him again?" inquired Gay, sitting down to -hide a sudden faintness. - -"I have placed him in charge of an excellent man at Epsom," said the -Professor in the superior way in which one doctor speaks of another, -"but I shall overlook him, of course." - -"Take me when you go," pleaded Gay. "I could speak to Chris through -the door, you know, and it might buck him up." - -"More slang," said the Professor resignedly. "And--ah--Epsom Downs -is not _quite_ the place for a young lady, my dear--the air is so -strong and keen, it nearly takes your head off--" And indeed he -looked more alive than he had done any time these ten years. - -"I wonder if his mother knows," she said, and her voice trembled. We -seldom weep at things we _feel_, it is in the attempt to put them -into words that we break down, and quite unexpectedly a tear rolled -down her cheek. - -A tear with Gay was so unprecedented an occurrence, that the -Professor realised the severe nervous strain the girl had passed -through, and that had kept her sleepless during the past night, but -before he could make up his mind to try and comfort her, Gay had -vanished, blaming herself for her lack of pluck. - -After all, Chris lived, and that was everything; but oh! she hated -sport--hated anything to do with horses. She had taken Chris's -steeple-chasing more or less light-heartedly till the accident to -which she had been an eye-witness, she had only _heard_ of the -others--become used to his disappearances while being patched up. -But now she knew, in one lightning flash, that she could not bear to -live with the constant dread before her of his being killed, or -dragging out a maimed existence, and with her usual decision of -character, came to the conclusion that Chris would have to choose -between racing and herself. - -She fell to wondering if Mrs. Summers would be offended if she sent -down by the Professor some of her famous strong mock turtle soup, and -she hoped his beef tea would be made properly, one part beef, one -mutton, one veal. She was still thinking about it when her cousin -walked in, unannounced, of course, as most undesirable things are. - -"So Chris is going on all right," said Lossie, thus proving that she -had already looked up the Professor. "Awful good sort, isn't he?" -she added, in a tone of pretended warmth, for as she wanted Carlton -Mackrell for herself, she never missed a chance of pointing out -Chris's charms to Gay. - -Gay nodded, and, in an effort to calm herself, took up a bit of -needlework, and began to plant delicate, intricate stitches. It was -significant, perhaps, that no one ever saw Lossie with a needle in -her hand, and as she had no maid, how she got mended was a mystery. - -"You look awfully bad," said Lossie frankly. "But if you feel like -that, why not marry Chris Hannen when he gets up, and have done with -it? Steeplechasing doesn't begin again till the autumn, and you may -as well be his wife as his widow." - -Gay paled. Lossie had brutally enough hit the right nail on the -head. It was because she could not bear to own Chris, then lose him, -that she must keep him at arm's length--be his comrade rather than -his wife, which was by no means what Chris wanted! - -"How is Aunt Lavinia?" she said, abruptly changing the conversation. - -"Just as idiotic as ever. Sent five pounds to Barnardo's Homes -yesterday, and refused to pay my hat bill." - -Gay looked disgusted, knowing that the sweet lady's life was one long -struggle to balance Lossie's dressmaking bills and her own private -charities, the result being that she had not a frock or bonnet good -enough to play chaperon in, so that Lossie was dependent on her -friends and Gay to take her about. - -"That reminds me," said Gay, "I haven't sent my contribution yet," -and she rose and went to her writing-table, where she jotted down a -note. - -"As to my dressmaker," said Lossie, "she's going to summon me. It's -all these hateful seasons of the year--as soon as one is straight for -spring, it's summer, then winter in the middle of _that_--and so on. -Why can't we live in a place where the same sort of clothes do all -the year round?" - -"That blue frock you wore at the ball must have been very expensive," -said Gay hesitatingly; "the dear aunt really does her best, you know." - -"Oh, it's easy for you to talk," cried Lossie spitefully. "One-half -of the feminine world is a pincushion, for the other rich and happy -half to stick pins in, and I don't pretend to be like Aunt Lavinia, -who would rather be the pincushion than the pins!" - -"I'm sure," said Gay wearily, too unhappy to be indignant, "_I_ never -stuck any pins in you or anybody else." - -"Well, no," admitted Lossie, who had an excellent reason for getting -Gay into a good temper, "_you_ don't, but every woman is given two -chances of happiness in life, a rich father, or an adequate -husband--or both--but as a matter of fact, the double event seldom -comes off--indeed, far more women are ruined by their fathers than -their husbands. _Cherchez la femme_ indeed! Oh, it's easy enough -for a girl to be gay, to be happy, if she's rich--if men 'don't go -after the money,' they don't refuse to go where the money is!" - -Gay coloured. She knew well enough that her fortune counted for -nothing in the eyes of at least two men towards her--Chris couldn't -and wouldn't give up trying to win her because she had more money -than he had, and Carlton was so rich, that if he ever cast it a -thought, it was merely as private pocket-money with which to buy -chiffons and fal-lals. - -"How much will your dressmaker take off her account?" she said, for -she always preferred coming to the point, to beating about the bush, -and she was used to these periodical attacks on her pocket. - -"Thirty pounds would do. Then I could order something for--" - -"Don't," said Gay, who had drawn out her cheque-book, and begun to -write. "Lossie," she said half sadly, as she came forward, and -handed her cousin a slip of pink paper, "why do you bother so much -about the outside of you? Be rice, be natural, be _kind_; don't talk -scandal--men _hate_ it--" She paused and blushed; unconsciously she -was trying to teach Lossie those pretty manners and ways of her own -that men cherish so deeply, and to which their homage, so long -forgotten among brusque women, inevitably sprang. - -"I can't be a dear little charmer like you, Gay, if you mean that," -said Lossie, as she put the cheque away, and warmly thanked its -giver, though after all it was no more than her right. Those who -_had_, ought to share with those who had not, and our Labour Members' -vigorous contention that people who have money, should be forced to -provide for those who have spent theirs, also for those who can't and -won't work, expressed her opinion exactly. - -And yet the cheque did not make Lossie as happy as usual. In sudden -flashes, now and then, she realised her position--saw over. Beauty -she had, and brains, but up to now, and she was twenty-seven, they -had brought her little good. She had received no really good offers, -but it never seemed to strike her that her extreme expensiveness in -dress and tastes had a good deal to do with it, and her absorbing -(and patent) passion for Mackrell still more. To be sure there was -that ridiculous George Conant, at present the favourite nephew and -heir of the enormously rich Mrs. Elkins, but as the old lady made a -new will every three months or so, and he might do something -specially idiotic to annoy her, it would be madness to bet on _that_ -chance. - -Poor Frank would be safe, and less trouble--anyway, she had no -intention of drifting into that grey life in which one is first with -nobody, or worse still (for Aunt Lavinia's pension died with her), -forming one of that hopeless army of incapables that is always -"looking for something," and helpless, unbraced, expects a -heaven-born post to fit it, not that it should learn to fit itself -for a post. - -Lossie sighed impatiently, and glanced across at Gay, who sat, -needlework in hand, in the charming room that was feminine like -herself, and fresh and sweet, with nothing whatever about her to -suggest the Trotting or Race-course, and, as often before, she tried -to analyse the irresistible charm of her cousin. - -"A good sort" (from the women), "a _darned_ good sort" (from the -men), was the invariable verdict passed upon her, and even taking up -vulgar Trotting, and doing things men hate their women to do, had not -affected her popularity. "The first time you see Gay Lawless you'll -hardly think her good-looking, the second you'll fall in love with -her, and the third you'll ask her to marry you!" Lossie had once -heard one man tell another--but as to _beauty_! It was true that -Gay's eyes had a curious power of refraction, so that shades of -feeling chased each other over them like shadows on a clear pool, and -her skin had the clear transparency that goes with hair that not so -long ago, as Gay confidentially told her men friends, was "carrots," -though the laugh with which she said it, showing the loveliest little -white teeth in the world, usually inclined the person addressed to a -quite contrary opinion. But compared with what Lossie found in her -own mirror, Gay had no good looks at all. - -"I half expected Mr. Rensslaer," said Gay, glancing at the clock. - -"He's not a beauty," said Lossie, with some irrelevance, but he was -no favourite of hers, and, on his part, he had never found reason to -alter his summing up of her on the first occasion they had met. - -"His kind face is more distinguished than any man's I know," cried -Gay with spirit. "I learn more from him in five minutes, than all -the stupid people I've ever known put together!" - -"Including Chris?" said Lossie drily. - -"Including Chris." - -"Then the sooner you make yourself happy with this pattern of all the -perfections, including a few millions, the better," said Lossie, who -did not care who Gay married, so long as it was not Carlton. - -Gay laughed. "Wasn't it Nathaniel Hawthorn who said that 'to have -wealth beyond a certain point, is only to undertake the labour of -living the lives of ten or a thousand men as well as your own?' And -besides--can't you see, but of course you can't, that a man like that -must have had his own ideal, his own romance, ages before he ever saw -silly little me? There's a story in his life, and no mean one, I'll -wager." - -"Really," said Lossie, "I don't think your lovers are much comfort to -you. One lets you in for a disreputable sport, another breaks your -heart by half-killing himself, and the third string to your bow isn't -in the very least in love with you!" - -At that moment the door opened, and Rensslaer came in. - -"So Mr. Hannen is going on all right," he said in a tone of great -pleasure as he shook hands with Gay, and Lossie, with a vague wave of -her hand, disappeared. - -"Yes--thank God!" - -"Nice boy," said Rensslaer, as he sat down opposite Gay, and she gave -him a few details of Chris's case. There were dark rings round her -eyes--she looked really ill, and Rensslaer guessed that if Chris's -accident had shaken her into a vivid realisation of her love for him, -it had only the more convinced her that to see his life in almost -daily jeopardy for five months out of the year, would be more than -she could bear, and that this was the real parting of their ways. - -"Couldn't you persuade him to give it up?" he said abruptly; it was -not the first time he had startled her by knowing precisely of what -she was thinking. - -She shook her head - -"You know," she said, "Chris is too tall for a jockey--he _will_ -train--and, apart from accidents, all the tall jockeys go out -quickly. There was Archer--there are many others. It's sheer -perversity in a man of six feet to want to be a jock--" - -Her voice broke, and Rensslaer bent his head, and looked away--it -struck her then that a man's silence is more decent, and worth more -sometimes, than all a woman's sympathy, and talk, and kisses. - -"Perhaps this will sicken him of the game," he said presently. - -It might have enlightened him as to Gay's chances of happiness to -know how at that very moment Chris, for the most part in bandages, -was using almost his first conscious moments to have held up before -his eyes by an unwilling nurse, his note-book of "fixtures" for the -ensuing week, the while eagerly calculating his chances of being able -to ride before the last day of the month, when steeplechasing ended. - -Gay pulled herself together, but when Rensslaer spoke of her horses -and their engagements, and the much-coveted Gold Vase, she felt that -for the time being, at any rate, she hated anything to do with a race -of any kind. - -And yet it was no more than two days ago that she had told Carlton -she would break her heart if it did not become hers, and he had by no -means forgotten.... - -"You must let me drive you down to Waterloo Park," said Rensslaer, -and then told her that on the Gold Vase day, he was for once entering -a horse, and going to drive himself, though not in competition for -the Vase. - -Gay hardly heard him. She wanted to go to the telephone and get the -latest news of Chris. The Professor, now taking some rest, was to go -down to Epsom later in the day. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE GOLD VASE - -It was not without protest on the part of the Professor that -Rensslaer drove Gay to Waterloo Park for the race for the Gold Vase, -and when, punctually to the minute, the latter appeared in Connaught -Square with the road wagon and pair with which he was subsequently to -win first prize in the "Road Rig Appointment Class" at Olympia, an -animated colloquy was going forward, in which Lossie Holden bore an -animated part. - -"You and Frank can come down by train if you like," said Gay -defiantly, as through the window she saw the pair of almost -thoroughbred-looking seal brown mares, no white, with long tails and -manes. Then, with no more ado, she walked out, and took her place by -Rensslaer's side. - -Mamie H. and Nancy Clancy, each with a record "low down in the -teens," were in the habit, whenever their heads were loosed, of going -along at a 2.30 gait, and on the way down to the races they went -together like one horse, without pulling or shying, or being afraid -of motors, passing everything on the road drawn by horses, and making -it lively even for the motors. - -They were harnessed a little differently to what they are in the show -ring, as instead of collars, (which are obligatory in a pair horse -"road rig" class) they had breast or "Dutch" collars, such as are -used in Vienna for pair horse racing, with the object of giving -horses more freedom, also the reins were of the Viennese style, -which, instead of coming together at the coupling, have single -hand-pieces, continued double all the way, there being four reins in -the hand instead of two. - -Rensslaer explained that the breast collars have terrets only on the -outside, so that the inside reins come back to the pad terrets, and -give a more direct pull on the reins than if the horses wore collars, -and Gay listened with all the eagerness of the novice, who has the -luck to get from an expert "inside" knowledge of which the -public--and even Carlton Mackrell--knew little. - -Many murmurs of "There goes Rensslaer!" followed them on the road. -Some of the men wondered who was the uncommonly pretty girl with him, -others, again, recognised her as the somewhat remarkable Gay Lawless. -She wished that the drive might last indefinitely, but all too soon -it was over, the horses averaging sixteen miles an hour all the way -down from Town to the course. - -The scene when they arrived was pretty enough, and the attendance -unusually good, as it was known that Rensslaer was driving--an -extraordinary circumstance that had raised the hopes of the Trotting -fraternity sky-high. - -The race for the Gold Vase is a handicap in mile and a half heats, -the entries, sixty, being divided into six heats with ten horses in -each heat, with two semi-final heats for the twelve horses who have -been first and second in these preliminary heats, and a final heat -for the first and second horses in these semi-finals. - -Gay's and Carlton Mackrell's horses were both at "scratch," but were -drawn to start in different heats, the first heat being with Carlton -Mackrell's horse scratch. - -Ten horses were in this heat, the limit horse a raw-boned, -uneven-gaited trotter, ridden by a small boy in shirt sleeves, who, -the moment the pistol went off, bolted with the boy, and tried to -jump the rails, but was brought back, and finished the heat last, -amidst the jeers of the public. - -Mackrell's horse trotted very fast and steadily, his toe weights -flashing in the sun, and without a slip or waver, without any urging, -overtook one horse after the other, had them all beaten before the -last turn, and jogged the winner in twenty lengths in front. Time: 3 -minutes 30 seconds. - -As Gay's horse had never been able to do a trial for the distance -faster than 3 minutes 36 seconds (all out), she felt very despondent, -much to the delight of Lossie, who had arrived with the ruffled -Professor in tow, and who hoped that Gay would get such a beating -that day as to sicken her of the sport for the remainder of her life. - -Rensslaer and Carlton vied with each other in their attention to, and -care of, the downcast Gay, as they watched the next heat, in which -none of their party had horses. A hobbled pacer was the limit horse, -and bore the name of Birmingham Joe, although he looked a typical -common American, and English horses are not pacers; he won, after a -most desperate finish, by a short head in 3.36. - -This horse, therefore, was equal to Gay's in speed, and with a start -of 200 yards over hers, would have a great advantage if he got into -the final, as he would not have to come through his horses, and -although he seemed very stiff and old, such horses often improve in -speed in later heats, if they are kept moving between heats. Most -likely, said Rensslaer, he had a low record in the States about "the -time of the flood," and might get some of that speed back when he got -warmed up, and worked the stiffness out of his old legs. - -Between the second and third heats there was a curious exhibition of -the Guidless trotter, Gold Ring by Wild Brino, Mr. Wilkinson, the -owner, leading the old stallion out with a surcingle, overhead check, -and side reins, like a circus horse, then taking him fifty yards down -the stretch, turned him to face the starter, and walked away, the -horse standing like a statue. - -At the report of the pistol he darted off on a strong trot, and not -cutting the grass corners, but keeping fairly on the track, he -trotted the full two laps for the miles in 2.24, mane and tail -flying, finishing with a spurt at his top speed. - -As he passed the wire the bell was rung, when he at once pulled up, -turned slowly round, and jogged up to Mr. Wilkinson, who was waiting -for him. - -"Isn't that _pretty_?" cried Gay warmly, and forgetting all her -nervous fears as they went over to look at the big chestnut stallion, -with very high action, that won the Richmond (Surrey) Horse Show Pace -and Action Class some years ago. - -"I have a good many young trotters by him," said Rensslaer quietly to -Carlton; "he is so exceptionally well-shaped, and has a very low -record." - -The third heat was won easily by a pony with a long start, under -saddle, in 3 minutes 42 seconds. (This pony got beaten in his -semi-final.) - -Between the third and fourth heats there was much excitement when -Rensslaer drove Hettie C., the pacer (to establish a record for -pacing mares for England on a half-mile track), in a Faber speed -wagon. She was a thoroughbred-looking mare, but with rather a big -head, dark chestnut, and he had two men out with galloping -thorough-breds in jogging carts, one of whom stood his horse close to -the outside of the track near the judge's stand, whilst the other -cantered behind Hettie C. as she had a few preliminary brushes the -wrong way of the track to open her pipes. She came out on a trot, -and only got into her pace when she got beyond a 2.50 gait. - -Hettie C. did not wear hobbles, or any of the rigging usually seen on -the third-rate pacers usually imported into England, but only quarter -and shin boots to protect her in case she stepped into an uneven bit -of footing. She carried the lightest of racing plates, and a rubber -bit and side check, and paced almost as upright as a trotter, with -just a flip to her fetlocks, and knees and hocks stiff. - -When she was ready, she came down for her flying start towards -"Uncle," the galloper some four lengths behind her, but Rensslaer -shook his head, and "Uncle" did not drop the flag (for this start was -by flag, as the trial was on American lines), and Rensslaer gradually -stopped the mare, and jogged back on a trot. - -The second time the mare was going to his satisfaction, and he nodded -for "Uncle" to drop the flag, and the trial had begun. The people -had been asked to keep quiet, so as not to upset the mare, and -nothing was heard but the "tapa, tapa" of the pacer's feet, and the -"tip-a-tip, tip-a-tip" of the galloper. - -They got to the quarter mile in 32 seconds, the galloper stretching -out faster than a hunting gallop, but losing ground. Round the turn -his driver hit him, and he did all he knew, closing up the gap, and -getting to the mare's girths, the half being done in 1 minute 3 -seconds. Here the second galloper joined in, and as they came to the -third quarter, the first galloper was done, and dropped back, the -second galloper taking his place alongside the mare. This quarter -was done rather slower, in 32½ seconds, the time for the three -quarters being 1 minute 35½ seconds, the mare beginning to tire on -the heavy, sandy track. - -Both drivers of the gallopers beginning to shout, the mare made a -desperate spurt, and Rensslaer drove her out with the reins, not the -whip, and she finished (with the second galloper head and head with -her) in 31 seconds for the last quarter, making 2 minutes 6 seconds, -far and away the best record for England. The first galloper -cantered in behind, quite done. - -There was great applause at this, the most sensational feature (so -far) of the day, and then came the fourth heat--the heat where Gay's -horse was in at scratch. - -Her driver, a very good English one, manœuvred very well for a -start, and got off well, the horse in front of him starting badly, so -that he got clear of him at once, and sailed after the leaders, one -of which, a very small pony with a very long lead, went zigzagging -all over the track, so that every time he tried to pass it, the pony -got in his way. Finally, however, when the pair of them were in the -lead, it got into a bad break, and galloped under the wire, neck and -neck with Gay's horse (of course being disqualified), the latter -winning the heat in 3 minutes 40 seconds. - -Gay's horse could have done the heat faster if he had not been so -interfered with by the pony, but this interference had taken a lot -out of him, and he seemed rather tired after the heat, and cooled out -badly. - -The sixth heat was won by two lengths (of course no horse of her -party was in this) in 2.40 by "Our Tom" rather easily, and the winner -therefore looked capable of going faster in the finals (this was the -Trotter in the final heat). - -Mackrell's horse was in the first semi-final heat, but not Gay's. -Mackrell got a wonderfully quick start, and got very soon up to the -leader, did not pass him, but kept just behind till they came into -the stretch, and then passed him, and won in a jog by a length in -3.35. - -Although he had won by only a length, so as to not expose his horse's -speed too much, he had won so easily, that when the betting on the -final came, he was the favourite at almost any price, as he seemed to -be an absolute certainty. - -Now came the second semi-final, Gay's horse at scratch. He got a -very bad start, being half turned round when Uncle "loosed off," and -he had a hard struggle to get up to the horse in front of him. As he -did so, he and that horse got up to the one in front of them (who had -made a standstill break), and Gay's horse being in the middle, his -sulky got crushed between the other two, and though he drew in front, -it was seen that his near tyre, the one on the outside of the turn, -had come off. - -Gay drew in her breath sharply, but Rensslaer soon reassured her, for -with luck and a clever driver all was not yet lost. - -The tyre had got jammed up in the axle fork, and also the wheel, -which could not revolve in consequence, and dragged along the ground, -but by trotting his hardest, the horse still kept gaining on the -leader, although the wooden rim of the wheel got worn through by the -friction on the track. As the horses came round the final turn, -Gay's horse got level with the leader, and after a desperate drive -won, the wheel just holding till the wire was passed, when -collapsing, the sulky turned over. - -As it did so, the driver, seizing hold of the harness with his left -hand just above the crupper, lifted himself forward, and putting his -right hand on to the pad, vaulted on to the horse's back, and stopped -him. - -Time: 3 minutes 37 seconds. - -When the driver returned to the paddock, he was cheered by the crowd -for his pluck and skill, but Gay's horse was very exhausted, and all -of a shake, as the stuck wheel made a terrible handicap on him in the -race, he had also slightly cut his near hind fetlock with the broken -wire spokes. - -The betting, which originally had been on Gay's horse, now, as I said -above, had veered round to Mackrell's; in fact the race was -considered as good as over. - -When the time came for harnessing for the final, Rensslaer, who had -been looking after Gay's horse all the time, and found him in a very -bad state, went as a final desperate remedy to the refreshment bar, -bought a bottle of their best champagne, and at the risk of its being -considered doping, he drenched the horse with the liquor. The effect -in a few minutes was very marked; the horse brightened up, and seemed -almost himself again. - -But the trouble was by no means over. In the bar Rensslaer presently -found, to his horror, that the driver of Gay's horse had been given -drinks to celebrate his plucky driving with the broken wheel, so -often, that the man was already dead-drunk, and of no earthly use to -drive. - -Rapidly seeking out Gay, and drawing her aside, Rensslaer briefly -told her the state of affairs, and offered to drive for her, but like -lightning she leaped to the longed-for opportunity, and whispered -that if he would lend her his Faber speed wagon (in which he drove -Hettie C. in her trial pace against time earlier in the day) she -would drive the race herself. - -Gay's horse was therefore harnessed to the speed wagon; she took her -place in it, and Rensslaer tucked her well in with a light rug. - -But all this took time. The moment of the start for the final was -long past; in fact a stout young man had been shouting "Get on your -marks," in a voice like a bull for some time, when suddenly Gay -appeared on the track behind her horse, and after a moment's -stupefied silence, a deafening cheer rang out, succeeded by another, -and another. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -GAY DISGRACES HERSELF - -There was no time to warm up the horse; she had to trot down fast to -her mark, overshot it some forty yards, and swung her horse round in -a hurry, spurting to get up to her mark, as she saw "Uncle's" back -with upraised pistol. - -It was fortunate she did so, as at that moment the pistol went off, -and she was at top speed on to her mark as the pistol was fired, -Mackrell's horse being at a standstill at the same mark (they were -both scratch mark horses, you may remember), she having the outside -position. - -Mackrell's horse was into his stride in a moment, however; Gay and -Mac raced side by side after the leaders. There were, of course, -only four horses in this final, one of the leaders being the old -ex-American hobbled pacer, Birmingham Joe, who had 200 yards' start -of Gay and Mac, the fourth horse being the trotter Our Tom, with 150 -yards' start. - -Gay's and Mackrell's horses trotted side by side like a pair, rapidly -overtaking the two leaders, but Gay could see out of the corner of -her eye that Mackrell was holding his horse, and could at any time -draw clear of her if he liked. - -At the turn he pulled slightly back, and let her take the inside, and -there came an ominous jeer from the spectators when they saw him -giving way, instead of keeping the advantage he had gained. The -moment, however, they were round the turn, he drew up level again on -the outside, when suddenly his horse made a most disastrous break (a -horse noted for never breaking), and every time Mac tried to catch -him, he went off into a worse break, till finally he cantered in a -long way last, the horse refusing to trot. - -Gay, of course, saw nothing of this, she only knew that Mackrell's -horse had suddenly fallen back, and that she was gaining hand over -hand on the trotter Our Tom in front. She passed him as she went -round the track the second time, and calling on her horse, she saw -him stretch out his neck still further, and lower himself till he -seemed inches lower than his proper height, whilst he began to sway -his head slightly from side to side, as he reached his utmost in each -stroke. - -She swept round the last turn but one at such speed that she found -she must keep her eyes fixed on her horse's ears, as the least glance -to the side made her feel giddy, and as if she would lose her -balance, and now she got up with the pacer in the hack stretch, who -was wobbling along in the regular third-rate pacer style, instead of -moving almost as upright as a trotter, as Hettie C. the pacer did -earlier in the day. - -A really perfect-gaited pacer has very little roll in its gait, and -if seen from the side could not be distinguished from a trotter -except by an expert, but poor old Birmingham Joe was labouring along -like a channel boat in a south-wester, and his hobbles were singing -from the strain like an æolian harp. It was this strain, and the -fact that poor old Birmingham Joe's master had _everything_ old -(including the horse), which won Gay the race. - -The sulky was an old heavy metal one, made in England years ago, the -hobbles had been patched and mended till little of the original -hobbles remained, and as the two horses came neck and neck (Gay on -the outside) round the last turn, the æolian sound of the hobbles -changed to a sudden rending crash, and old Birmingham Joe turned a -complete somersault, pitching his driver over his head, and landing -on top of him, the hobbles having broken. - -Gay jogged in a winner in 3.35, a second faster than her horse had -ever trotted before, and whilst the driver of Birmingham Joe was -carried in on a stretcher with a broken leg, Mackrell finished on a -canter last of all, amidst the yells of his backers, that alternated -with loud cheers for Gay Lawless. - -In these cheers neither Lossie nor the Professor joined. They had -not understood what Rensslaer meant when he had suddenly appeared -beside them, and hurried Gay away. They had hardly understood what -it meant when after a considerable delay (for they were at some -distance from the stables) they had seen a woman's shape in a Faber, -driving rapidly towards the track, and when in the first round Gay -had swept by close to them, looking extraordinarily pretty and -determined, her little feet planted firmly on the rail before her, -eyes wide with excitement and courage, the Professor had all but -fallen down in a fit, while Lossie rejoiced--even Carlton Mackrell's -affection could hardly survive that. - -On all sides kodaks had flashed; indeed in the event, nearly every -illustrated paper made a scandalous feature of a sight common enough -in Vienna. Min Toplady alone of the women clapped her hands, and -cheered at the top of her voice; but the excitement now over, Gay -herself felt shaky, and more than half inclined to burst into tears. - -Even the presentation to her of the Gold Vase was by no means the -ecstacy she had expected. It was by a desperate effort that she held -her head up, spoke her thanks, smiled, and marched away with -Rensslaer, who tucked the Vase under his arm as if used to such -ridiculous impedimenta, and took her straight to her brother, -followed by the cheers of the lookers-on, in which a nice ear might -detect a certain note of familiarity. Possibly she detected it, but -was quite unaware that Carlton was about having a very bad quarter of -an hour, called as he had been before the Stewards, for an -explanation of his extraordinary driving. - -He declared that his horse lost a toe weight at the first turn, which -caused him to break, and he could not, or would not settle -afterwards, and when the horse was examined, it was seen that the -near toe weight was missing. - -While the discussion was still going on, one of the distance judges -brought in the toe weight, and also the screw which held it, but -instead of the screw being broken, or the threads worn, it was seen -that the screw had only a head, and very short shank, and that the -latter showed marks of its having quite recently had the end of the -screw shank filed off, so that there was only a head, and a little -bit of shank. - -The blacksmith who was employed at the trotting track said that -Mackrell borrowed a file of him before the final heat, and being -curious as to what he wanted it for, he followed him at a distance, -and saw him filing something behind a tree, after which he went to -screw on his horse's toe weights. - -The blacksmith went behind the tree and picked up the half of a screw -(the point end), which he produced, and it corresponded to the screw -which Mac's horse had lost with his toe weight. - -Result--expelled from ever driving in the Clubhouse, and outlawed -forever. - -Mackrell bowed, and withdrew with perfect _sang-froid_. He had -pulled off what he intended, and if Gay had been made happy by -getting what she wanted, he did not in the least grudge the price he -had paid. But when he joined, or rather intercepted, her on the way -to the gates, he found a pale, almost tearful Gay, and one glance at -the Professor's and Lossie's faces convinced him that they had been -baiting her cruelly, in spite of Rensslaer, who cool and -imperturbable as ever, walked beside her. - -"Hearty congratulations, Gay!" Mackrell cried, taking her hand. "It -was the best done, pluckiest thing I ever saw in my life, and the -Gold Vase is yours." - -Gay controlled her voice to thank him, but Rensslaer shot a quick -glance at the other's face--he had, of course, seen Mackrell's game -from the first, and was also aware of that summons to the Stewards' -room, to which there could only be one issue. - -"I am astonished," said the Professor in quavery tones, "astonished -and shocked at your congratulating my sister on the disgraceful, -unwomanly exhibition she has just made of herself, and for which I am -to blame, in not having put my foot down on this degrading sport from -the first." - -"Oh! put it down," said Carlton, who looked very handsome and -determined, "and keep it there if you like. _I'm_ going to take Gay -home, and the quieter she is kept the better"--he turned on Lossie -Holden a glance beneath which she quailed--"so you can travel back as -you came, with the Professor." - -He put Gay as he spoke into a waiting carriage, seated himself beside -her, and drove off, Rensslaer having handed to Gay her coveted trophy. - -"I believe," said the Professor, "that the indecency on wheels in -which my unfortunate sister drove was your property, Mr. Rensslaer, -and as she could not possibly have used it without your consent, I -imagine it was at your suggestion she did so." - -"You're right there," said Rensslaer encouragingly, "and I'm proud to -know my Faber's been of use to the nicest, pluckiest girl, bar none, -I've seen in England." - -"Anyway," cried the Professor, trembling with rage, "I shall make it -my business to see that she has no opportunity of disgracing herself -and me again," and seizing Lossie's arm, he hurried her away. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -TWO LOVERS - -If God sends friends, the devil sends collaterals, for the former, in -addition to their superior good qualities, at least have the civility -to knock at your door, the latter walk straight in to torment you at -their pleasure, and Carlton had hardly left the house when Lossie -appeared, furious at the determined way he had carried Gay off, and -more furious still at the rebuke he had administered to herself. - -"You've done it now, Gay," she said spitefully. "Frank's raving -mad--how I got him to town, I don't know." - -"Let him rave," said Gay coolly, holding one little foot to the fire. -Her eyes still sparkled, a lovely colour was in her cheeks, on a -table near glittered the coveted Gold Vase, and though her arms ached -horribly from the late strain on them, she cared no more for the ache -than for Lossie's acrimonious reproaches. - -"Toes turned out, first position," said Lossie, watching Gay's face -cruelly. "It was something to be thankful for, I suppose, that your -feet weren't further apart than they were!" - -Gay flushed. - -She had thought only of bracing her toes hard against the foot-rests, -not at all of how they looked. _Had_ she looked immodest after all? - -"Lucky you had no feathers in your hat," said Lossie with a sneer, -and at that injustice to her invariably neat racing garb, Gay -rebelled indignantly. - -"Did you _ever_ see me befeathered on a race-course?" she said -contemptuously, but Lossie shrugged her shoulders. - -"It looks as if you'd dressed for the part, and went down with the -full intention of playing it," she said. "That rug, too, outlining -you like a sheath--_that_ was ready also, strange to say!" - -"It was Mr. Rensslaer's," said Gay. "I suppose it was _my_ fault -that my driver got drunk, and someone had to be found at the last -moment to take his place?" - -"Mr. Rensslaer could have taken it, and would have done, if you'd let -him--" And as this was true, Gay had no answer ready on that point. - -"Anyway, I won it," she said, and tossed her pretty head, "that's the -main thing." - -"Because Carlton Mackrell let you," said Lossie. "Didn't you hear -the crowd howling at him when he gave you the inside place? Or so a -man told me who was watching the race through his glasses. Hark!" - -Through the window came the yell of a newsboy in the street: - -"Well-known owner of Trotters expelled for unfair driving at Waterloo -Park to-day!" - -Lossie ran out of the room and downstairs, while Gay, her heart -beating wildly, and very pale, felt her triumph turned to sawdust -between her teeth. - -Carlton's horse was a far better one than hers ... Rensslaer had told -her so ... he knew how to drive, she did not. - -"Here it is," cried Lossie, returning. Unfolding the sheet at the -latest news, she read aloud a brief paragraph announcing that Mr. -Carlton Mackrell had been expelled from the Clubhouse, and barred -from ever driving again, for tampering with his horse's toe weights -in the race for the Gold Vase, won by Miss Gay Lawless. - -And he had not said one word to her of this. Oh! what had she done? -For a whim, and in pure hot-headedness, she had taken up a sport -suitable for men only, made herself notorious, inflicted pain on her -brother and Chris, and, finally, made a man who loved her submit to -disgrace, and deprivation of his favourite amusement, rather than she -should be disappointed of a silly Gold Vase! Did Rensslaer know--had -he _seen_ it, and made no sign? - -"Poor Mackrell!" she said, then dried her tears, as she would not -have done had he or Chris, or Rensslaer been present. At that moment -the distracted Professor came into the room, and Gay, with an impulse -of pity, went up, and laid her hand on his arm. - -"My driver was drunk, Frank," she said, "and it had to be decided all -in a moment. It didn't seem to me wrong at all then--and even now -I'm not sure that it was--it's Carlton Mackrell I'm worrying about--" -then went away, and locked herself into her room. - -She was very quiet when she got there, poor Gay, sitting on the side -of her bed, with all the triumph of a few hours ago fizzled out. A -debt of honour came before all others, and this was one of them.... -Gay's heart was generous enough to realise that surely Carlton had -never meant her to know, never meant to be found out, but he had -bungled at his tricky work, as honest men will, and he meant her to -have that Gold Vase, and she had got it--for what it was worth. - -Suddenly the ugly, the sordid side of this sport she had taken up so -recklessly, showed to Gay. She seemed to see the man carried away -with his broken leg--yes, there were accidents at Trotting as well as -at Chris's game--and the clamorous desire to win something, money or -a bit of plate, or the success that is notoriety, took on its true -colours--something loud, common, of no value to a woman of taste, -whose true kingdom was her home. - -She had all along fought her love for Chris because of the danger, -the unhealthy excitement of his life, and deliberately she had -emulated it, and was now tasting the bitter fruit of disillusionment, -of disgust. It struck her then, as it has done so many others, that -it is doing the things that we want to do, not those that we ought, -that we mostly come to our ruin. - -* * * * * * - -Chris Hannen, speeding slowly towards a perfect recovery, had -succeeded in turning out his nurses, and Mrs. Summers, to her great -joy, was now his sole attendant. Promoted to a sofa, he had opened -eagerly the last evening special to see if Gay had won the Gold Vase, -only to be confronted with a piquante description of her as she had -appeared when seated in the Faber, looking as a man would prefer -almost any other woman than his sweetheart or sister to look, as she -steered her horse to victory. - -He winced as he read, and when he came to Carlton Mackrell's summary -expulsion, and the reason, his heart sank, for now Gay would consider -herself bound in honour to reward the man who had not hesitated to -disgrace himself, so that she might possess the toy after which she -had so often hankered in his hearing. - -Chris had always hated Gay's going in for Trotting, and yet, was he -himself any better--risking his life for excitement, wringing Gay's -heart? Why not be a _sportsman_?--ride for pleasure, not gain, -though to be sure it was pleasure, and to spare to him! - -"Serves Mackrell jolly well right for being kicked out," he growled, -and did not pity him a bit--but Gay would, and there was the rub. - -Rensslaer, too, had behaved badly. He was a much older man; he was -under no illusions as to the status of the sport in England, yet he -accompanied her to meetings--would probably go on doing so now that -Mackrell was barred from the Trotting course. - -Chris's meditations made him so feverish, and brought out such a -hectic flush on his cheeks, that Mrs. Summers was seriously alarmed -when presently she arranged his dinner on the invalid table slung -before him. But looking shrewdly about for the cause, she caught -sight of the paper on his knee, and though they had never exchanged a -word on the subject, Mrs. Summers knew well enough what place Gay -held in his heart, and that the young lady was racing her horse for -the Gold Vase that day. - -"Has Miss Gay won, Mr. Chris?" she inquired, and he nodded, but did -not pursue the subject. Evidently, he thought, Gay had been carried -away by audacity and high spirits, for of course he did not know of -the driver's mistimed conviviality that had given the girl her -longed-for opportunity. And now they were baiting her, no doubt, -that spiteful Lossie, and the hysterical Professor, and he not able -to stand by her--she wanted someone badly... - -For a minute or two he racked his brains, then suddenly remembered -Min Toplady, and leaving his dinner untouched, he turned to the -telephone within reach, and picking up the book, found to his great -relief her husband's number. - -He was lucky enough to get on quickly, and to his "Are you there?" it -was Min's cheery voice that responded. - -"Yes--it's Chris Hannen. I want you to go at once to Miss Gay, she -has had a trying day--no, you needn't say I sent you--only that you -wanted to congratulate her on her success--you will go? -Thanks--yes--she did it splendidly, you say? Never saw anything -prettier? Rotten shame about Mr. Mackrell--something must be -done--yes--you're going at once--good--'phone me to-night how she is, -if possible--yes--good-bye." - -He replaced the receiver, and returned to his half-cold dinner with -more appetite than he had begun it. Min Toplady was a doughty -champion, capable of routing Lossie or the Professor with great -slaughter, and Chris grinned to himself as he imagined the -passages-at-arms likely to occur. - -Anyway, Gay would not stand alone, and with her own courage, and such -a powerful backer, ought to pull through with honour. - -His spirits rose. Mrs. Summers, coming and going, was delighted to -find him in such good fettle; she thought Miss Gay's success in -winning the Gold Vase had something to do with it, and though -privately a little shocked at the young lady's sporting tastes, she -was glad of anything that did her young master good. - -But when she had left him, with his cigarette-case at his elbow, he -got restless again; the quiet room, in which he had lived so much -lately, got on his nerves, and a profound depression stole over him. -He longed for someone to talk with; if he had not been such a -confounded way from town, he would have called up one of his club -friends, and got from him the popular opinion of the day's events at -Waterloo Park. - -Most of all, he would have liked to see Carlton Mackrell, and as if -the thought had summoned him, the door quietly opened, and that -gentleman, announced by Mrs. Summers, walked into the room. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -MIN TO THE RESCUE - -"The very man I wanted to see," cried Chris as they shook hands. -"You'll have some dinner? Mrs. Summers won't keep you waiting long." - -Mackrell shook his head. - -"I had all I want in town," he said, sitting down opposite Chris. He -look tired and ill; it is always easier for a dark man to look out of -sorts than a fair one, and in spite of all that he had lately -suffered, Chris had the advantage of the other at that moment. - -"It's a rotten game, Trotting," said Carlton abruptly, "and I'm more -than sorry I ever encouraged Miss Gay to go in for it. But she has -won her Gold Vase, and now I hope she'll chuck the whole thing, -especially"--he smiled--"as I'm chucked." - -Chris looked into the fire, - -"When you think of the practices that go on at the game," said -Mackrell, "how a man will win a race with a certain horse, then fake -him, change his name, and enter him for another race under a -different name, and that the Stewards spend half their time -investigating 'shady cases,' it's almost an honour to be fired -out--at least, I know Rensslaer would think so." - -Chris was still silent, staring into the fire. - -"Can't you speak, man?" cried Mackrell irritably. - -"You have laid Miss Gay under an obligation," said Chris quietly. -"She is the soul of honour--as you well know--and she will pay it to -the last penny. She gets her Gold Vase--yes, but you have played to -get what is worth a million gold vases--herself." - -Mackrell uttered an exclamation of anger and half rose, but Chris -went on unmoved with what he had to say. - -"Has it struck you that we are both rotters--both utterly selfish in -our aims and pursuits--that neither of us is good enough for that -dear little girl--that Rensslaer is a far finer sportsman, and better -all-round man than either of us? He is doing real good with his -breeding stables, and improvement of the breed of horses--he pursues -a definite aim that the State should be grateful for--that _is_ -appreciated by almost every country but England--but what good are -you and I doing? Miss Gay hates my profession as jockey--its danger, -its excitement, its more or less unhealthy surroundings--yet I -persist in following it, and when I come to grief, inflict pain on -her.... And you, Mackrell, who lightly infect her with your own love -for Trotting, who are mainly responsible for her taking up a rôle -that few men would permit in a sister, are you much better than I am? -You wanted her company, and you got it--and, as usual, it's the woman -who has to pay." - -"Damn it, man," burst out Mackrell fiercely, "you make me out a -scoundrel, who offers a farthing doll as a bribe to get possession of -a great treasure, but you're wrong, utterly wrong. Unless Miss Gay -sends for me, I shall not go near her--" - -"And she will send," said Chris grimly. Too late he now remembered -that Min Toplady was with Carlton's suit heart and soul, and much too -clever not to make ample use to-night of the opportunity given her by -the day's events. - -Mackrell looked up, his face suddenly grown old and lined. - -"I came to you for bread, and you've given me a stone," he said. -"You make it impossible for me to ask Miss Gay to be my wife--and you -know it." - -"I think you did wrong to cheat, so that she might win what was -practically valueless," said Chris quietly. "I repeat that you had -no right to lay her under such an enormous obligation." - -"I did not expect to be bowled out," said Mackrell sullenly. "Her -dearest wish was to win the Vase--it was my earnest desire that she -should do so--my thoughts went no further than that. If that -infernal chap hadn't followed me, Miss Gay would have believed she -had won on her horse's merits, for you may be sure I should never -have undeceived her." - -Chris silently held out his hand, and Mackrell, after a moment's -hesitation, took it. - -"Can nothing be done?" said Chris. "It's preposterous that you are -to be made an example of like this! Have you seen Rensslaer?" - -"No. I took Gay back to town--of course she did not know about me. -Heavens! I expect they're tearing her to pieces at Connaught Square. -It's on her account I'm here--I thought she might have 'phoned to -you--told you how she was." - -"No, but I expect to hear presently. I've sent Min Toplady to her." - -"Good old Min!" exclaimed Mackrell. "I'm sorry for anyone who -attempts to bully Miss Gay in _her_ presence." - -Chris laughed. - -"Have a drink, old man, and buck up," he said. "Unless I'm much -mistaken, Miss Gay drove her first and last race to-day, and her -horses will be "scratched" without delay. It wouldn't trouble me -much if mine were," he added gloomily, "for I have no luck." - -The telephone bell rang. - -"Yes--yes--are you there? It's all right, Mr. Chris, Miss Lossie is -gone--I've rated the Professor, and put Miss Gay to bed. There's -been a lot of fur and feathers flying ... _that_ Miss Lossie. I -'phoned Mr. Mackrell at his club, but he wasn't there. Miss Gay -wanted him to call to-morrow morning first thing after breakfast--" - -"Here," said Chris, and held out the receiver to Carlton. - -"Oh! it's you, Mr. Mackrell, that's all right--yes, I'll 'phone Miss -Gay in the morning that you're coming. What ... you can't ... you're -going to Paris! Miss Gay sent her love to Mr. Chris. Good-night." - -* * * * * * - -Gay had made no reply to the frequent and irritating knocks on her -door, but soon after eight had struck, a welcome voice issuing from -the keyhole made her jump up, and promptly turn the key. - -"My lamb," cried Min Toplady, folding her in a motherly embrace, and -Gay, clinging to her, cried her heart out, and was comforted and made -comfortable, and presently, with the blinds pulled down, a wood fire -lit, and a dinner tray placed before her that the cook had carefully -prepared, Gay was able to laugh at herself, and even enjoy Min's -unconcealed delight at the brilliant style in which she had won her -race that day. - -"Never saw you more bewitching," cried Min, "and the dress and -attitude were modest enough, it was only the idea of the thing, that -prudes might call indelicate. Toplady says all the men were wild -about you, for of course they knew about your driver being squiffy, -and thought it the gamest thing out, your driving yourself. Of -course," added Min, "your horse wasn't half good enough for you, my -dear, or even as good as Mr. Carlton's--" - -"Oh, Min!" cried Gay, "Mr. Mackrell has ruined himself that I might -win that wretched Gold Vase!" - -"Stuff and nonsense!" said Min stoutly. "His toe weights were all -right, and as to what that rascal swore to, there's not a word of -truth in it. Why, one of that lot would sell his own soul for a -shilling, and tell any lie for sixpence. Not but what he wanted you -to win, Miss Gay, for he worships every hair of your head, but he was -getting tired of the game, and ain't sorry to quit it. And, my -lamb," went on Min tenderly, "you've had your bit of fun, and you've -won what you wanted, and if I were you I'd leave it at that, now Mr. -Mackrell won't be here to make things pleasant for you." - -"Oh, Min," cried Gay sadly, "you also! Everyone is against me--even -Mr. Hannen. He must have seen the papers to-night--what _will_ he -say?" - -"It was Mr. Chris who asked me to come up and see you," said Min -reluctantly, for Carlton Mackrell's chances with Gay had never seemed -to her better than now, if he only followed them up quickly. - -Tears sprang to Gay's eyes at this evidence of Chris's thought for -her, and an intense longing to see, and speak with him, seized her. -She had begged the Professor to take her on one of his frequent -visits to Epsom, but he had always refused, very unkindly, as Gay -thought. - -"Did he think I was in trouble, then?" she said, and blushed. - -"He knew Mr. Mackrell's being warned off would upset you, I expect," -said Min, "also," she added with a sniff, "he may have thought Mr. -Frank and _that_ Miss Lossie would be getting at you, and you wanted -protection." - -At that moment a knock came at the door, and a servant appeared with -a message from the Professor, requesting Mrs. Toplady to give him a -few minutes' conversation in his study. With an ominous flounce, and -toss of the head, but a reassuring squeeze of the hand to Gay, Min -descended, full of fight, to find, as she expected, Lossie lounging -by the fireplace. - -"Good-evening, Mr. Frank," said Min beamingly. "I'm paying you a -return visit, you see. Hope you got home all right that time?" - -The Professor squirmed, and pushed forward a chair, upon which Min -settled her ample person, then, affecting to see Lossie for the first -time, remarked in a tone of lofty rebuke: - -"You shouldn't sit moping so near the fire, Miss Holden--it makes -your nose red--for you're no chicken, and it's sinful to spoil your -chances of a husband like that! Now Miss Gay, with her outdoor life -and sports, will never grow old, or want for lovers, bless her!" - -"It's just about these sports that I wanted to speak to you, Min," -said the Professor with nervous haste. "The--ah--shocking exhibition -my sister made of herself to-day--" - -"Wonderful driving for a beginner--won-der-ful!" said Min admiringly. -"Did you ever hear such cheering? Trotting 'ud soon look up if you -could get half-a-dozen Miss Gays to drive their own horses." - -"I don't believe that out of all England you'd find one other such -immodest girl as my cousin," said Lossie, "or one family that would -permit her to do what she did to-day." - -"How could I stop her?" cried the Professor irascibly. "I nearly had -a fit when she appeared on the track." - -"You could have stopped it at the beginning," said Lossie sharply, -"before she had ruined Carlton Mackrell's career, and made of herself -a public scandal." - -"It must be a comfort to you, Miss Lossie," said Min silkily, "that -_you_ hadn't enough influence with Mr. Mackrell to make him do -anything wrong. He just worships Miss Gay, and when he found she had -set her heart on the Gold Vase, why, he took care that she should get -it, like the true lover that he is!" - -"This woman has always been a bad influence with Gay," Lossie said -furiously to Frank, "and they make a combination that will be too -strong for you, if you don't look out." - -"I came here to talk to Mr. Frank, not you," said Min equably. "My -motto is, 'let every tub stand on its own bottom,' and if I were you, -I'd try and get some beaux of my own, and not be always grabbing at -Miss Gay's." - -"Insolent woman!" cried Lossie, with flashing eyes, but Min merely -nodded in a maddening way, and said: - -"You always hated Miss Gay because all the men loved her--what one -man likes, the rest mostly do, and perhaps if you could have got hold -of _one_, Miss Lossie, others might have come along too. At present -it looks as if you'll have to put up with poor Mr. Frank after all, -for you can't live without plenty of money!" - -Having produced her effect, if the Professor's terror-struck face -were to be trusted, Min proceeded to the discussion of the matter -really in hand. - -"You want Miss Gay to give up Trotting," she said, addressing Frank -quietly, "and now she hasn't Mr. Mackrell to help her, I think -perhaps she'll be willing. But if you bully her, Mr. Frank, she'll -go on with it just to defy you, for Miss Gay has got a temper and a -will of her own, for all that she's the sweetest, and best, and -prettiest little lady in the world." - -"What do you advise?" said the Professor quaveringly, for Min's -reckless unveiling of Lossie's secret intentions towards himself -(failing anyone else) had half-frightened him out of his senses. - -"I advise you to let her alone, Mr. Frank," said Min, "and make that -poke-nose"--she pointed an accusing finger at Lossie--"stop at home, -and not come here meddling and interfering, for if Miss Gay wants -advice, Mr. Rensslaer'll be the one to give it, and settle what's to -be done about her horses. And now, Mr. Frank, I'll say good-night, -as I'm going to put my lamb to bed, and if you want me at any time, -why, you know where to find me, and any hospitality Toplady and me -can show you, (one eye closed in an almost imperceptible wink) we'll -be proud and happy, I'm sure." - -"Good-bye, Min," said Frank hurriedly, as he opened the door for her -to go upstairs, then skipping out with her, closed it behind him--and -ran. - -Min stood, shaking with laughter, as in the distance she heard the -laboratory door shut, and the key turned. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -"FIGHTING" GAY - -Those who thought they knew their Gay, and that she was humbled, -penitent, and willing to amend her "trotting" ways, speedily found -themselves mistaken on this point, and the first to whom she gave a -taste of her quality was the unhappy Professor, who entered the -breakfast-room next day, gibbering, and extending towards her an -illustrated morning paper. - -Gay took it calmly from his hand, but a flush of anger rose to her -cheek as she saw that, whether from spite or ignorance, the artist -had maliciously altered the position of her feet, a pose emphasised -by the devil-may-care look in the pretty, saucy face turned -impudently over her shoulder. - -"Somebody who doesn't like me, evidently," said Gay, sitting down at -the head of the table, and commencing to pour out coffee. "Wonder if -it's anyone Lossie knows?" - -"Hardened! Shameless!" sputtered the Professor, walking to and fro -and wringing his hands. Gay felt glad Chris was not there, as he -used to get behind the Professor, and wring _his_ in imitation, -convulsing her. - -"I insist on it," cried her brother, "that you wire your trainer -instantly to 'scratch'--I believe that is the expression--your horses -for all future meetings, and I will take you abroad till this -shocking scandal is forgotten. Why, even there, we shan't be safe, -for you will be lampooned on the boulevards--an English lady driving -like a stable-boy--in a man's attitude"--his voice rose to a shriek -as Gay walked to the chafing-dishes on the sideboard, and helped -herself to bacon. - -"Shouldn't wonder if I get mentioned as a 'horrible example' from a -pulpit or two," she said placidly, "and probably there will be -several fancy sketches of me driving _really_ like a boy--in one of -those old-fashioned sulkies where you can't even see your horse's -head, and have to guide him by faith and a double squint. Have some -kidneys, Heron? They're awfully good." - -But the angry Professor waved away the proffered delicacy, and -resumed his wind-mill antics up and down the room, thereby getting on -Gay's nerves. - -"Look here, Heron," she said quietly, "it may save trouble if you -will just grasp the fact that my horses will not be withdrawn, that -their engagements _will_ be fulfilled, and that I shall be present at -_all_ the meetings, and if you don't care to chaperon me, I'll find -someone who will." - -"Lossie won't!" screamed the Professor, now almost beside himself at -this flat rebellion, "nor Mrs. Bulteel either! You've never been -able to persuade her to set foot on a Trotting course--even if she -were willing, Tom Bulteel wouldn't let her!" - -It was true, and Gay thought it horrid of Effie; then her soft little -face hardened, and she shot her bolt. - -"Then I'll go under Min Toplady's protection," she said. "I can make -her do anything I like--and _she_ shall take me--and jolly good times -we shall have, too!" - -"Good God!" cried the Professor, "my sister--my _sister_ going to -Meetings with public-house ladies in public-house traps"--he forgot -that he had once censured Lossie for thus speaking of Gay's old nurse. - -Gay nodded emphatically. - -"I shall stay at the 'Trotting Nag' altogether, if you're going on as -you are now," she said. "Lossie can come and keep house for you--no -one could say anything on the score of propriety, you know," she -added, with as much malice as her sweet temper permitted, "for she is -a relation!" - -The Professor shuddered. He had not yet got over the shock Min -Toplady's remarks about Lossie had given him overnight. What would -become of his specimens, his microscopic work, of _him_, if -pitchforked into matrimony? - -Lossie was a deuced pretty woman, of course, but she had a horrid -temper, and original as Gay was, his natural selfishness, and sure -male instinct, told him he was safer with the latter than the former. - -"Well, well," he said, and sat down dejectedly. "A wilful man will -have his way, they say, and now that my feminine little sister has -taken up with a man's life and sports, I suppose she'll, like him, -have _her_ way, no matter who pays." - -"Heron!" exclaimed Gay, suddenly contrite, and got up, and went round -to him. For a moment she did not speak, and it struck her that she -had shed more tears, felt more "sloppy," since she started Trotting, -than in all the years of her life before--yes, and apparently done -more mischief to others. - -"Don't you see, Frank, that if I don't face the music, if I seem -ashamed of all this hateful publicity--for it _is_ hateful--I shall -only be a coward, and make things worse? I don't promise that I'll -give up Trotting, but probably I may--with poor Carlton warned off, I -don't expect to take much pleasure in it again. And now, Frank"--she -kissed him, and smoothed his hair--"you've got to eat your breakfast, -and forget about all this for the present." - -She helped him to kidneys, and rang, for fresh coffee. Presently, -comforted against his will, Frank stole a glance at Gay, who seemed -deep in thought, and indeed with one lover outlawed from his -favourite sport, and the other absent, prevented for the time being, -from following a dangerous profession that Gay hated, she felt at -that moment very friendless indeed. - -If Mr. Rensslaer would only weigh in, and race Trotters himself, she -thought, but he wouldn't, and then she got up, fetched her little -basket of keys, and waving her hand to Heron, set out on her usual -morning tour of housekeeping. - -The Professor waited till she had gone, then deliberately kicked the -offending newspaper round the room (all men of science are childish), -and departed, well-pleased with himself, to his study. Inflating his -pigeon-chest, he said to himself that Gay was a dear little thing, if -misguided--and after all she had _him_ to stand by her. The escapade -of yesterday would probably do no more than make a nine days' talk, -then blow over, and when she married Chris, as the Professor had -always felt sure she intended to do ultimately, she would be just a -domesticated girl, with all this racing rubbish knocked clean out of -her head. - -At eleven o'clock, Rensslaer was announced, and Gay rose eagerly to -meet him, for he might be able to give her news of Carlton, from whom -she had heard nothing, and she put the question without loss of time. - -"Well," said Rensslaer, "it struck me as ironic that one of the few -men who had conferred distinction on the sport of Trotting in -England, should be expelled the Club, when so many undesirables -remain to disgrace it, so I looked in at St. James's Place just now -to tell him so." - -Gay opened her lips to ask how he looked, then checked herself, but -in reality Carlton was not in the least disgraced. Everyone knew how -he had lost a race purposely that a pretty girl might win it, but he -_did_ blame himself for encouraging Gay in her fad, and still more -for the weakness that had at all costs determined her girlish wish -for the Gold Vase should be gratified. - -He had done her as ill a turn as a man can do the woman he loves, but -he felt justly, that Rensslaer was to blame for the scandal of Gay's -driving herself, that the latter should have dissuaded her, and taken -Brusher's place, and had not hesitated to tell him so when he -appeared. - -"We had a talk over his plans for the future," said Rensslaer, "and I -strongly advised him to race his horses in Vienna and Paris, and -offered him every assistance should he decide to do so. But he -didn't seem keen on it--promised to think it over, and let me know. -Said he was taking a short run abroad for the present--would probably -do a cure at Aix." - -A look of keen relief crossed Gay's face, and at that moment a -servant entered with an express letter. While Gay, asking permission -from Rensslaer, read it, he thought how almost incredible was the -amount of wicked, even dishonest, things that a dear, pretty little -girl, honest as the day, could make a man do, and how ungrateful she -could prove herself for his doing them. - -"Will she feel bound to reward him, I wonder? Will he expect it?" he -thought. - -Yet with William Blake, Rensslaer knew that - - "He who bends to himself a joy, - Does the wingéd life destroy, - But he who kisses the joy as it flies - Lives in eternity's sunrise." - - -"For it's that Hannen boy she loves, and he her. I've watched her -face--still, as he won't promise not to steeplechase, and she won't -marry him if he doesn't, I don't see what's going to happen." - -"You're quite right," she said, "Mr. Mackrell is off to-day, and will -not have time to call here before he starts. I told my brother this -morning that my horses will keep the engagements for which they are -entered, but after that--" She hesitated, and looked at him -anxiously. - -"After that, Miss Gay," he said gravely, "don't enter them for any -more. It's not a woman's game--at least, for one so womanly as you -are--and you'll never do any good at it over here." - -"Aren't those snapshots and sketches of me horrible?" said Gay in a -whisper. "I'm looking forward with terror to the illustrated -weeklies." - -"It was a plucky idea, pluckily carried out," he said, "though -Mackrell didn't mince his words to me just now--told me I ought to -have prevented you and done the driving myself. But I don't -think"--he smiled whimsically--"anything short of _force majeure_ -would have stopped you." - -"Not even the devil," cried Gay, with sparkling eyes. "I sin with my -eyes wide open, and I'd do it again this very minute." - -"Why not?" he said equably. "As I said before, you must come over -and drive for me in Vienna. I have won so many prizes there," he -added quaintly, "that they don't like me to compete any more. Let me -know the dates of any Meetings you have to attend, and no matter how -far away I may be, I'll come back to escort you." - -"Thank you," she cried, impulsively holding out both hands, and as he -took them, the door opened, and Effie Bulteel came in. - -When he had gone, and he went immediately, Effie flung her arms round -Gay, and gave her a good hug. - -"I don't care what Tom says, or how those horrid papers lampoon you," -she cried, "it was awfully game of you, and I'd have loved to do it -myself!" - -"You're a trump!" cried Gay. "You see, the driver was tight, and I -_longed_ to do it, so when the opportunity came, I was like the -teetotaler who joined the Blue Ribbon Army, because he thought it -must be so delicious to be tempted--and to _fall_--and I fell!" - -Effie laughed heartily, then exclaimed: - -"Poor Carlton! But what a fool to be caught like that! Gay, if ever -you want a thing done properly, get a knave to do it--" - -"But I _didn't_ want," cried Gay, "and as to that Gold Vase, it may -be turned into a coal vase for all I care. He--he is going abroad at -once--he has written to tell me so." - -"_Reculer pour mieux sauter_," said Effie significantly. "Awfully -good form of him, though, to clear out just now, instead of appearing -like a tradesman with his bill made out, waiting for it to be paid, -and a receipt given! And Chris out of the running, too! Poor Gay! -You'll have to take the Trotting man after all." - -"Only, even if I wished it, he won't take me," said Gay, and laughed -at the epithet--Effie, like others, was still possessed of the -entirely mistaken idea that Trotting was the be-all and end-all of -Rensslaer's life, when in fact it was only one, and that by no means -the greatest, of his hobbies. - -"I don't believe in platonics, you know," said Effie drily, "and I -intruded on quite an affecting little tableau just now. But now, -Gay, what are you going to do? Tom says, of course, you'll drop -it--the Trotting, I mean-- - -"I'd die sooner!" cried Gay, with flashing eyes. "Effie, if you've -come here only to tell me that, then you are no real pal of mine. -The least you can do is to stand by me, you and Tom--I can't attend -the race Meetings alone, or with Lossie, who has been perfectly -hateful to me." - -"Ah!" said Effie sympathetically, "she would, you know!" - -"And Frank simply won't--besides, I don't want to be regarded as -keeper to a lunatic. Failing you and Tom, I'll have to attend the -meetings with Rensslaer or Min Toplady--or both! We don't want our -friends when we are in the right, but to dig us out of holes that our -own folly has let us into--though in spite of everything I'm glad, -_glad_ I drove yesterday!" - -"It's true I have some influence over Tom," said Effie thoughtfully. - -"Boundless," murmured Gay. - -"But I don't think it goes far enough to make him attend, or consent -to my appearing at, a Trotting Meeting. I believe he's really glad -Carlton's warned off--a sort of being saved from the evil to come, -you know." - -"If the man I married, refused to perform an act of Christian charity -for my greatest friend, I'd know the reason why, that's all," said -Gay curtly. - -Effie gasped. This was a new Gay, with whom she did not know how to -reckon--evidently Trotting was spoiling her sweet temper.... - -"But is it charity?" she said. - -"Didn't you say just now how you'd have liked to do what I did?" -cried Gay in a rage, "and now you're jibbing at the consequences! I -don't--I face them. And it's just a piece of snobbishness for Tom to -turn up his nose at what is good enough for Rensslaer, and the very -pick of American sportsmen!" - -"Yes, everywhere but in England," said Effie absently. - -Gay's jibes had hit her hard, and she was wondering if it would be -possible to persuade Tom... - -"When is the next Meeting--and where?" she said. - -Gay told her, and making a rapid calculation of dates and -engagements, Effie exclaimed: - -"There's no racing that day! Look here, Gay, I'll use every means of -bribery and corruption to get Tom to drive us down--" - -"Don't," said Gay coldly. "Put it on the bare ground of loyalty to a -friend." - -"Call it what you like. And if he does, we'll stick to you like -burrs--anyone who cheapens you, takes on the three--" - -"Thank you, Effie," said Gay quietly, but wishing all the same that -her friend had done the right thing, without having the way pointed -out to her so violently. - -"Come out," cried Effie briskly--"come out and show yourself. My -motor's at the door. Put on your smartest hat and clothes, and your -best 'don't-care-a-damn' smile, and face the music." - -Gay did, and by the time they had shopped in Bond Street, traversed -Piccadilly twice, dropped in at Effie's club, and fooled round -generally till lunch-time, then attended an At Home or two, winding -up with tea at Rumpelmeyer's, it was the general opinion of those who -saw her, that the person least ashamed of what she had done the -preceding day, was Miss Gay Lawless. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -A TICKLISH MOMENT - -Tom Bulteel, red-faced, blue-eyed, taciturn, with Gay beside, and his -wife and Rensslaer behind him, tooled his bays down to the next -Trotting Meeting, and tried to look as pleasant as the character of -the big crowd and unwonted surroundings permitted. The attendance -was a record one, the front of the track thronged with people, while -the number of conveyances of all kinds, from waggonettes to -nondescript traps, was altogether phenomenal, for it was the -expectation of seeing Miss Lawless drive again, and also the -possibility of Rensslaer doing so, that had brought down a strong -contingent of the press. A multitude of snapshotters attended her -every look and movement, those, however, who expected an Amazon, -found a pretty, modest little girl, very quietly dressed, under the -powerful ægis of the well-known Captain and Mrs. Bulteel, and the -boisterous half-cheer of greeting from the Ring that broke forth at -sight of her when the coach swept up, was somehow never finished. - -Probably if Rensslaer had not been present at her recent new -departure, and displayed such an obvious interest in her, no -particular scandal would have attached to it, and Gay's driving -herself been regarded merely as the bold freak of a free-and-easy -young lady, who went in for a free-and-easy sport, and as such -applauded. But his close attendance had focussed public attention -upon her, inclining an eager trotting world to the belief that she -had converted him to her views, and that shortly he would bring his -enormous experience, superb driving, and splendid cattle to the -sport, thereby giving it a tremendous leg-up. But in this also, as -in Gay's case, they were disappointed, for neither then, nor at any -subsequent time, did Rensslaer repeat his performance on the Gold Cup -day. - -Min Toplady was there, and greeted Gay with effusion when the latter -went over to speak to her, but nervously, too, for those "snapping -fiends," as she called them, who pursued Gay everywhere, more than -ever brought home to Min the conviction that this Trotting business -was a hideous mistake on the part of so young a girl, and that Gay's -daring escapade had cheapened, and inflicted a distinct loss of -prestige on her. Thanks, however, to the countenance afforded by -Captain Bulteel and his wife, as they made a tour of the track, she -was everywhere received with a silence that passed for respect, -instead of the familiar badinage that Min dreaded, though if Gay -appeared to notice nothing, she was really having a very bad quarter -of an hour, and longing for it to be over. - -Just before the second race, she and Rensslaer strolled quietly down -to the rails to investigate the cause of a long delay, which was -really owing to the drivers all jockeying for a good start, when the -face of a little man in orange, driving a handsome pacer, suddenly -became such a vivid study in emotions of fear, astonishment, and -horror, as made Gay glance quickly at her companion for an -explanation. - -"It is only that he thought me in Paris," said Rensslaer drily, "so -is driving my private sulky that I keep here for occasional use," and -Gay's face changed as she thought of that delicious unlawful drive of -hers, when Brusher Tugwood had, unknown to her, borrowed Rensslaer's -wagon, and its owner by accident had seen her, and so a new and -delightful friendship had come into her life. - -Anyway, her mania had not been all loss--and then, as much against -his will, owing to false starts, the guilty little man passed, and -repassed them, a fresh expression on his face every time, and all -intensely diverting, Gay laughed more heartily than she had done for -days past. - -"What will you do to him?" she inquired, wiping her eyes, when at -last the horses had started, the lightness and grace of Rensslaer's -wagon showing in favourable contrast to the clumsy make of the -English ones, but he only shook his head; she knew well enough he -would do nothing. - -They leaned forward, watching the race, and soon it was apparent that -a collision was inevitable, as the man in the orange jacket unfairly -overhauled the leader; the next moment, the wheels of both sulkies -locked, and the driver of the one "fouled," fell heavily on the track. - -"Badly hurt, I'm afraid," said Rensslaer, and Gay turned pale as she -saw through her glasses the faces of the crowd that had closed round -the prostrate man. Almost at the same moment, a cheer rang out, for -the driverless horse decided to race on his own account, pacing past -in grand style, and going much better on his own, than when under -control. It really was a remarkably pretty sight as he went round -the course four times at the rate of 2.40 a mile, before he caught a -wheel, and was easily stopped. - -"There's nothing to beat it, really," exclaimed Gay with some of her -old enthusiasm, for she honestly thought a trotter or pacer going his -fastest, a far greater example of the poetry of motion than a -racehorse. "But do go and find out if that poor fellow is very much -hurt. It was a bad day for you when you came out, my little man," -she remarked to herself as Rensslaer departed--"first to be caught, -then to 'foul' and half-kill your rival"--for soon she saw a sad -little procession winding away, and Rensslaer returned to tell her -that the driver's injuries were very serious, and that he was on his -way to a local hospital. - -This damped Gay's spirits. She thought of Chris, began to think that -she brought bad luck, and even her excellent prospects for the next -race did not cheer her, though in the event her expectations were not -justified. - -The start was bad, and Gay's pacer went to a break, losing probably -fifty yards. Miss Letty brought the field along for the first half -at a merry gait, and Old Joker drew up to her, while Gay's horse was -a long way behind. In the last quarter of a mile he stepped a -terrific gait, and in spite of so much ground to make up, he looked -to have a chance, but one hundred yards from the finish he went to a -break, and Old Joker gained the verdict. - -Winner's gait per mile, 2.20, as Gay saw by the stop-watch on her -wrist that Rensslaer had secured for her (similar to those used by -the judge and starters), which by pressure on a button, registers the -exact number of seconds in which a race is won, also the time taken -by the second horse. - -Suddenly, as Gay watched her man place a cooler, with her monogram in -the corner, over the horse and sulky, completely covering both, a -great distaste, disgust even, for her surroundings seized her. All -the bubbling joy that had attended her new pursuit right up to the -time of winning the Gold Vase, was completely quenched in her, and -Chris's indignant protests against Mackrell's encouraging her in so -unsuitable a pursuit rang in her ears, as she moved about with -Rensslaer, snapshotted here, stared out of countenance there, though -with nothing worse than a tentative remark occasionally addressed to -her by Trotting habitués, who regarded her probably as one of -themselves. - -"Better luck next time, miss," smirked one obviously public-house -gentleman, but Rensslaer did not resent the freedom as Mackrell on -her account would have clone. She had always been quick to note that -he evinced no distaste when claimed in acquaintance by common persons -in the crowd, who seemed to look up to him with almost supernatural -admiration, and once again Gay admired the simplicity of the man, the -entire absence of "side" that distinguished him, in whatever company -he found himself. - -Luncheon was taken on the coach, and Gay's second race, in which -Maudie T. was successful, coming on soon after, it was comparatively -early when Tom Bulteel headed his bays for town. - -"Thank God that's over!" he thought with a sigh of relief, for -disagreeable as the duty was, at least his presence, and that of his -wife, had effectively saved Gay from overt impertinence, and the -running fire of chaff to which only a coster-lady would have been -equal in reply. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -AUNT LAVINIA - -Unhappy about Chris, worried at Carlton's self-expatriation, and -deeply dissatisfied with her sporting experiment, Gay got into the -way of going much oftener to the little South Street house than -usual; she even accompanied Aunt Lavinia on some of her secret -charitable errands, and found her own troubles recede to very -trumpery affairs indeed, in the light of the real tragedy of the poor -that underlies all, especially town life. - -She began to question her right to waste money as she did on Trotting -and otherwise, and her ambitions seemed puerile, even common, as -contrasted with those of this dear little lady, who was always sowing -as flowers in the King's garden, the loving thoughts, the helpful -deeds, that unlike earthly flowers, would never fade. And as Lavinia -was growing old, and time was short, she sowed as hard as she could, -and unhappy, selfish people looking at her, always busy, always -happy, wondered what her secret was--Lossie would never learn it, but -Gay perhaps got some inkling in those visits to the poor, where her -bright face and warm heart served her well. - -It came as a great surprise to her to find that Chris, who in an -unobtrusive way helped his less fortunate brothers of the pigskin far -more than he could afford, assisted many poor people through Aunt -Lavinia, and while she knew that racing men are proverbially -generous, not to say princely, in their charities, she was greatly -pleased at this new light on his character. - -"Chris has the loveliest disposition, and the tenderest heart in the -world, my dear--it's as big as an ox's," said Lavinia one day, when -she and Gay were returning from a visit where they had poured -sympathy into a bereaved creature's bleeding heart, and incidentally -food and firing into her larder and cellar. "Carlton Mackrell -hasn't--and it's such a pity, as he's so rich, and could help so -much--but that's how it always is in this world, and always will be." - -Gay turned her head aside to hide a blush of pleasure, for praise of -Chris was very sweet to her--indeed, he was so constantly in her -thoughts, that the merest shake brought his name to her lips. - -"He's always doing something kind to somebody--except me," she said. -"He knows it breaks my heart for him to ride, and he will do it." - -"Poor boy," said Aunt Lavinia, and sighed, "he can't help it. That -passion for horses is in the blood of his family. You can spill it -if you like, but you can't get it out." - -"But it's rough on other people," cried Gay. "Chris gets all the -fun, and those who love him the sorrow." - -"So you _do_ love him, Gay?" said Aunt Lavinia, who for all her -goodness had on occasion a most unsaintly twinkle in her eye, as at -that moment. - -"Auntie, _who_ would love a man who keeps your heart in your mouth, -and always--always in a drivelling state of terror that he'll be -brought home to you in pieces, just alive in the biggest piece? I -have a feeling that the mere thought that _I expect_ him to have an -accident every time, will bring about one! I'd rather be an old maid -(I should never make a delightful one like you) and dry-nurse Heron -for the rest of my life, than live in such a purgatory of hopes and -fears." - -"Well, Gay," said Aunt Lavinia, "he would die in the way he liked, -wouldn't he? And real love consists, not in making others do what we -like, but in wanting them to be happy, so long as it is in no -disgraceful way, let us suffer what we may. I hate racing, as you -know--but then I don't like your Trotting at all either, my -dear"--and shook her head, Gay was on the wrong tack, but only going -through the mill would set her on the right one. - -Gay sighed. She had long ago found that Trotting, like marriage, -"takes a lot of kidding," and the less she enjoyed it, the more she -"kidded," but not to herself, being by now very sick of the fad that -she had so light-heartedly taken up. - -The horses themselves, the actual racing part, still appealed to her; -she thought their action the prettiest possible sight, and never lost -her pleasure in seeing them go--loved a close finish--it was the -surroundings that disgusted her. - -"Anyway, my fad is not dangerous to life--like Chris's," she said, -then suddenly remembered the ugly fall she had witnessed from the -tiny perch on Rensslaer's borrowed sulky, and the life-long injury to -the back that ensued. - -"Are you not both a little selfish, my dear?" said Lavinia. "Laddie, -(her pet-name for Chris) won't give up his racing, nor you your -trotting--but there is more reason in his asking the sacrifice from -you, than your demanding it from him. His mother did not." - -"Oh!" cried Gay passionately, "knowing what it must have cost her, -how could he do it?" - -"I believe there is a special Heaven to which good sons go," said -Lavinia, softly putting the question by. "I don't say good -mothers--that's natural--but to be a perfect son, and yet to be a man -at all points--a man of the world even--like Chris--that's rare--rare -and most beautiful." - -Then Lavinia confided to Gay with a blush that the only reason she -ever regretted not having married--and at times she regretted it -intensely--was because she wanted a son--a son like Chris. - -"You and his mother were great friends," said Gay very gently. - -"Yes--if either of them could have any real friend but each other. -They made the most delightful pair. Whenever you met them--and they -were never apart except when he was racing--they were having no end -of a good time, and cutting jokes together--what one said, the other -thought, and it was always amusing. I remember her talking one day -to Chris about something she would do 'when she was old and -respectable,' and he said, 'you'll never be old, and you'll never be -respectable,' and they both roared--it was a treat to see them -together." - -"He will never think any other woman fit to tie her shoe-string," -said Gay. - -"Oh," cried Lavinia, "she was by no means perfect! 'Chris loves me -for what I might have been--not for what I am,' she said to me one -day. But cheer up, Gay, the dear boy will put on weight, and settle -down quietly, and ride to hounds like any other country gentleman, -once you are married." - -But Gay could not see Chris jogging to hounds on a weight-carrier, -and she worried a good deal in a quiet way. The world said there was -nothing like taking up a man's pursuits to rub the bloom off a girl's -face, and being so famous--or notorious--had by no means improved her. - -Something of her snap and freshness had departed, and Min Toplady, -who occasionally saw her at Meetings, observed with much concern that -her young lady had grown thinner, quieter, that the radiant girl who -had gone to Inigo Court with Chris, to applaud Carlton Mackrell when -he won, had vanished, seemingly never to return. Min wished that -gentleman would come home, persuade Gay to marry him, and settle down -in the country as a sporting squire, with her for the Lady Bountiful -that Nature had plainly cut her out to be. Of course Mr. Chris was a -dangerous rival, but neither rich like the other, nor desirable as a -husband, from the habit he had of risking his neck whenever he got a -chance. And Min did not think Miss Gay would elect to live with her -heart in her mouth for at least six months out of every year, so that -the betting was at least even on Carlton Mackrell. Of course, _that_ -Miss Lossie was always waiting to cut in, and get the latter for -herself, but, as Min vulgarly expressed it in her own mind, he wasn't -taking any. - -Fortunately the Professor did not worry Gay, for as if to make up for -wasted time, and terrified of meeting Lossie, he had disappeared -among his microscopes and tubes, and burrowed there. He seemed, as -Gay expressed it, to be chewing the cud of ticklish experiments that -wouldn't come off, and when he went down to see Chris, he did not -offer to take her, nor did she propose to accompany him, for even -while her heart yearned over the boy, she felt for him a curious -anger, realising all that his love of steeplechasing cost her. - -He also was having by no means a rosy time, either in body or mind, -for by careful editing, she was made to furnish spicy tit-bits to the -newspapers, and he raged at the accident that had put him out of the -running in more ways than one, just when Gay had never so badly -wanted all her friends. - -Brusher Tugwood's disgust at Carlton Mackrell's expulsion had been -deep and bitter. He always persisted in it that private spite was at -the bottom of the affair, that his master had been too successful in -beating the public-house pacers, and he also resented Gay's lukewarm -interest in the sport she had taken up so keenly, and blamed her for -not interesting Rensslaer in it to some practical purpose. - -But now, to all lovers of horses, a new topic had arisen. There had -begun to loom up in the public view, a forthcoming International -Horse Show at Olympia, that was to eclipse anything of the kind ever -before seen in England. - -At first women took but a languid interest in it, and if anyone had -predicted that all London would literally besiege the historic hall -to catch a glimpse of the wonderful arena, and the brilliant equine -contests conducted therein, he would have been laughed out of court. -But when a whisper flew round that it was to be _the_ big social -event of the season, that the King and Queen were going, and it would -be a place for one's very smartest frock and hat, also that at least -six millionaires had entered the pick of their studs, and over two -thousand entries were already made, public attention awoke; -everywhere horses, and the sumptuous surroundings they were to have, -became the principal topic of conversation. - -It seemed that although Great Britain had all the time been the -premier horse-breeding country of the world, it was only now that -Englishmen in general had awakened to the fact--strange in a -horse-breeding nation, that had for one and a half centuries, prided -itself upon its devotion to, and its pre-eminence in, this -all-important matter! - -It was a surprise to Gay to find that Rensslaer took so much interest -in it, for she knew him to be a rather severe critic of horse shows -in general (he excepted shows such as Richmond, etc.), his criticisms -being based on firm foundations, but she quickly discovered how -completely his heart was in it, when he discussed animatedly with her -the scope of the idea. - -"You see," he said, "in England hitherto a horse show has been -designed solely for horsey people--for those who desire to buy and -sell; the scene is gloomy, and in consequence the spectators consist -almost entirely of men, only the horsiest women attending them." - -"_I_ know," said Gay, making a little face, for she had attended one -with enthusiastic Chris--to her sorrow. - -"The curious thing is," went on Rensslaer, "that though horse shows -undoubtedly originated in England, starting with classes for young -breeding stock at the agricultural shows as early as 1840, the -development of this idea is undoubtedly due to a book--Mr. Samuel -Sidney's 'Book of the Horse.' From that time the movement spread in -Europe, America, and the Colonies, and the International view was -taken up by foreign supporters of horse shows, who held them in -Paris, Berlin, Brussels, The Hague, Chicago, and New York." - -"Especially New York," said Gay. "Is it true that the Madison Square -Gardens Horse Show sets the American fashion for the year?" - -"Yes--the public goes to view the show, but the show that it views is -in the boxes, not the ring. The horses? Oh! there are some very -fine horses shown, and the papers devote a quarter of a column or so -to describing them. But it's a good thing all the same." - -"It's time we 'bucked up,' for England was dropping behind a bit," -said Gay confidentially. "But what can you expect with Free Trade, -and the present Government?" - -Rensslaer laughed. - -"She won't be behind this time. No such show will ever have been -held in England. The great point is, that the thing has been so -conceived that the most unintelligent mind on horsey affairs may be -thoroughly interested. In those details where every other horse show -usually bores, because of tedious routine, this one will appeal to -the expert, and non-expert, and if you'll contrast jumps made of real -turf, with the way other shows are done, with bare boards and dirty -hurdles as the enclosure of the ring, you'll see the improvement. -Then the natural disappointment among foreign visitors that there are -no English gentlemen of the same class to ride against, is being -met--no grooms will be seen in the ring, and a great effort is being -made to get English officers themselves to ride." - -"Of course it is a move in the right direction that gentlemen in -appropriate costume should ride the jumpers, and not dirty -stable-boys in hobnailed boots," said Gay, thinking of how Chris -would have _loved_ to ride, and how delightful he would have looked. - -"It's astonishing how much better a gentleman sits, and in how much -better form he rides," said Rensslaer, "so that the moment he -commences riding, you can tell he is one." - -Gay nodded; she had often remarked it. - -"We hope to have picked out the best features of every International -Horse Show," said Rensslaer. "The system of having appointment -classes, will spare the public the ugly sight of seeing horses driven -in quite inappropriate carriages, such as a fat hackney in an -American speed wagon, and so on, thus a great impetus will be given -to the carriage trade. Then there will be the ladies' 'George the -Fourth' phaeton class, a low two-horse carriage with a seat for a -servant behind, which is the proper carriage for ladies driving, -instead of a high dogcart, or any two-wheeled carriage, which is only -fit for a publican's wife out on a bank holiday." - -"Or a Trotting Meeting," said Gay slyly. - -He laughed. - -"There is no doubt," he said, "that the show will do good, not only -by welding the forces of breeders, exhibitors, and dealers together, -but also by encouraging the breeding of the best type of the English -horse, and thus help to remove one of the most serious objections to -automobilism--the fear that it will result in the ultimate extinction -of the horse. It will be the finest display of horse-flesh and of -horsemanship that has ever been seen on so gigantic a scale in -England, or perhaps even in the world." - -"I hope we are all right!" exclaimed Gay, jealous for her -mother-country. - -"Well," said Rensslaer, "though the competition of America and the -Continent will be strong, and meet with a certain amount of success, -I think the English exhibitors will hold their own, and from whatever -country the winners come, it is always the English strain that wins, -though the fact is possibly more obvious to the foreigner than to -ourselves. I want you and the Professor to come to Elsinore one day, -and see what I am sending--" - -But Gay declared this to be impossible; her brother had completely -withdrawn into his scientific shell, and to dislodge him was -impossible. Besides, Rensslaer had delayed so long in inviting them, -a little to her surprise, that now she felt in no particular hurry to -go, and he did not press the point. It was only later that she -discovered in his apparent inhospitality, but another instance of -Rensslaer's fine tact, how it was not until he knew her to be finally -disgusted with Trotting as a sport, that he showed her the real -thing, the game as it should be played, such Trotters as she had -never dreamed of. - -It would be hard to say why Rensslaer, in whose life women had no -place, (though he had his own romance hidden away, as Gay had always -suspected), took so much interest in the girl, gave her so much -precious time, when in his many-sided life, and the multiplicity and -engrossing interest of his hobbies, he had none to spare for his old -friends, much less for society, which he despised. - -But he liked her sporting spirit when first he saw her at Inigo -Court, pitied her for the disillusion that her Trotting passion was -bound to bring her, admired her pluck when things went wrong, found -her true-hearted, honest and kind, therefore after his own heart. - -Yet when he went presently away, he somewhat sadly thought of the -careless, happy girl, enthusing about her Trotters, whom he had found -on his first visit. Unconsciously he murmured to himself: - - "Give her back her youth again, - Let her be as she was then! - Let her wave her little hand - With its gesture of command...." - - -Yes, even the lightest bruise on youth, splendid, unbroken, -unconscious even in its selfishness, was a pity. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -KING OF THE ROAD - -Lossie, waiting in the tiny blue dining-room in South Street for Gay -to fetch her, glanced round at the blue walls, the old copper prints, -the bits of old Nankin, at the flowers on the table, blue also, and -looking in the glass at those bluer flowers in her own head, felt a -sudden nostalgia, a longing to have Carlton Mackrell beside her in -her own _milieu_. It is what a woman in love always wants, and -everyday her pain at the deprivation of Carlton's society became -sharper, for there is no greater spendthrift in love than the selfish -woman who has the full intention, _bien entendu_, of getting her own -back, in one form or another. - -Turning to the window, she saw Gay drive up, and cheerily wave her -whip to her--that was the disgusting thing about Gay, that whether -really happy, or only pretending, she always pluckily tried to live -up to her name, thought Lossie, as she went out, pretending to -herself that she was a mere cat's-paw, to be used or ignored by Gay -as occasion served, but really glad of the opportunity of displaying -her lovely clothes. - -"Aunt Lavinia's slumming," said Lossie, in reply to the other's -query, as she climbed to her perch. "Why don't you start a motor?" -she grumbled. "This Ralli car is so selfish--you can't give your -friends any sort of a time with it, or take them any distance. -Nowadays one must either motor or be motored--and I prefer to do the -motoring myself." - -"Thank you," replied Gay with spirit, "I'm like Roosevelt--when -someone asked him the other day when he was going to buy a motor-car, -he said not while there were horses! I think it's just splendid," -she added warmly, "for the Americans to come over here, and revive -our rapidly waning interest in horses, and if some of our English -millionaires spent their money in the same way, then so much the -better would it be for horses, and for us! The horse is our friend -even more than the dog, and I'd like to see him kept for enjoyment, -not degraded to rough street work--_that's_ where the motor-car -should come in!" - -Lossie did not trouble to argue the point, she was better occupied in -watching the effect of her beauty on the passers-by, and certainly -the despised Ralli was very smartly turned out, as usual. The -occasion, too, was pleasant, for they were on their way to see Mr. -Vanderbilt's coach start from the Berkeley Hotel on its trial trip to -Brighton, hence Gay's delight at the fillip given to coaching. - -"You don't seem to have troubled much about your Trotters lately," -said Lossie presently as they turned into Berkeley Square. "Yet here -is poor Carlton hounded out of England, treated like any low welsher, -because you fancied a wretched Gold Vase! I wonder you dare show -your face at the Meetings as you do!" - -"I shouldn't," said Gay with spirit, "if I had a face as sour as -yours is at this moment! Really, Lossie, when I look at you, I feel -thankful I wasn't born a beauty--it makes you leave everything -else--manners, good temper, such lots of nice things, to chance, and -the odds are forty to one!" - -"Oh, we can't _all_ be a dear, artless little thing, truckling to -men's brutal prejudices--one reason you are so popular with them is, -because you pretend you don't want women to have the vote!" cried -Lossie. - -"Nor do I!" cried Gay warmly. "I consider an excited, shrieking -crowd of sober women clamouring for their rights, more indecent than -a crowd of men drunk who _don't_ clamour, and when it comes to -slapping policemen's faces, padlocking themselves to railings, and -rolling in gutters, it makes me ashamed of wearing a petticoat!" - -"Brains never were your strong point, Gay," said Lossie comfortably, -and Gay emphatically thanked Heaven they were _not_. - -"The most rabid shrieker of them all would become mild as milk, if -her own little baby were put in her arms, and she had her own man to -love her," declared Gay. "And as there aren't enough men to go -round, why don't the women emigrate, and fulfil themselves somewhere -else?" - -"All women are not so primitive as you are," said Lossie, sneering, -unaware that it was the capacity to _feel_ love as well as evoke it, -that made much of Gay's charm; at the back of all her follies was a -heart of gold, while a cherry stone represented Lossie's own assets -in that particular, save where Carlton was concerned. - -But there was no time for further argument, for they found themselves -jammed in the midst of a crowd delighted at the recrudescence of the -horse, with his grace, beauty, speed, and spirit, just as ten years -ago a similar crowd had assembled to see start for the same -destination, that marvel of power and ingenuity which was expected to -displace him--the motor-car. - -The glorious days of the "Old Times" coach seemed to be revived when, -drawn by four beautiful greys, their manes braided with red and white -ribbons, their heads decked with red and white camelias, a -clean-shaven, eager-faced young man, with keen dark eyes, the correct -blackness of whose attire was broken by his large red and white -buttonhole, brought his coach up with a flourish, and followed by -shouts and cheers and many cries of "Good luck," shortly sent it on -its way. - -Smarter than ever in his tightly-fitting coat, showing the -neatly-folded four-in-hand tie, and segment of scarlet gold-buttoned -waistcoat, Godden sprang from the leaders' heads, and climbing to his -place, blew a cheery blast upon his coach-horn. And then began the -American's triumph, for he could not have driven a hundred yards -before he found the reward of his enterprise in the way the people, -whether on foot or awheel, recognised, and gave way to him as king of -the road. - -Immediately the way was clear, and at a spanking trot, the coach went -bowling along, every horse-drawn or motor-driven vehicle, effacing -itself in honour of the fine team. The crowd's eyes sparkled with -pleasure and welcome at the sight, policemen saluted, women fluttered -their handkerchiefs, men cheered, the while Godden cheerfully -chirruped a return of their welcome and good wishes, but of all the -people in the streets, those to whom the sight of the splendid horses -gave the most joy, were the cabbies, who took off their hats to a -man, and waved them with ecstatic delight, shouting themselves -hoarse, and nearly falling off their boxes in the process. - -It was a royal progress from start to finish--from the time the -greys, that had not turned a hair, were changed, and four browns -substituted, to the mixed team of two chestnut wheelers, black near -leader, and grey on the off lead, that in turn gave way to one of -perfectly matched black-browns. At every stage there was a big -crowd, till at Brighton it ended in an extraordinary demonstration of -enthusiasm, and through dense, cheering masses that only left a -narrow lane for the coach's passage, the Metropole was reached. - -Blocked in the crowd, Gay inclined an eager ear to the cheers that -ran down Piccadilly. She would have loved to go all the way ... her -thoughts swerved sharply to racing, which was dangerous, wicked -even--did not the poor horses often break their hearts, either dying -on the course, or quietly after the race in their stables? - -And Trotting was apparently disgraceful (in England), but to drive a -coach with such horses as she had just seen--why, that would be at -once heavenly and _right_, thought Gay, as she listened to the -echoes, and tried to imagine herself handling the ribbons of the -Vanderbilt coach. - -She longed for someone congenial to talk with, and as if in answer to -her wish, Rensslaer, ducking under the horses' heads, suddenly -appeared at her elbow, and Gay's enthusiasm boiled over. - -"Even if it _is_ only a passing excitement for a man to whose great -wealth the newest crazes and the most costly distractions are mere -commonplaces," she said, "anyway its a more noble one than any of the -other American millionaires have thought of, and Mr. Vanderbilt -deserves all the credit as a true sportsman that is already his, or -I'm much mistaken." - -Rensslaer smiled. - -"Aren't you rather hard on millionaires," he said, "almost as hard as -your favourite Roosevelt, who has a healthy hatred for the -multi-millionaire,--says he is worse than a demagogue? He quotes -some chap who declares that the multi's face has grown hard, while -his body has grown soft, that his son is a fool, and his daughter a -foreign princess, and his nominal pleasures at the best those of -tasteless and extravagant luxury, but whose real delight, and real -life-work, are the accumulation and use of power in the most sordid, -and least elevating form!" - -"Out of breath, aren't you?" said Gay. "Well, thank Heaven you're -not a multi"--not knowing that Rensslaer _was_--"at least he would -admit that you are doing good work with this wonderful Horse Show." - -"By the way, I heard from Mr. Mackrell yesterday," said Rensslaer. -"He is coming over for it." - -Gay, looking between her horse's ears, waiting for the uplifted hand -of the constable to fall, and release the traffic, turned pale. -There are some debts of honour more binding than the friend's I.O.U. -that is never presented, and Gay felt that Carlton's was one of -them--a queer prophetic instinct told her that this Horse Show was to -be the turning point of her life. - -"I was glad to find Mr. Hannen so much better when I went to see him -yesterday," went on Rensslaer. "He told me he hoped to be well -enough to call on you next week"--here he ducked, and disappeared as -the policeman's hand fell, but Lossie, whose ears were quick, was in -the seventh heaven of delight. - -Carlton was coming back; Chris, whose absence and misfortune had -melted Gay's heart, thinned her body, and almost quenched her bloom, -was appearing once more on the scene--everything promised well. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -AT ELSINORE - -After all, it was chance that dictated Gay should go to Elsinore, or -rather the accident of Rensslaer's having cut in just before the -Professor, and obtained a certain rare edition that the latter -greatly coveted. He would cheerfully have started for Kamschatka to -read or borrow it; Elsinore was nearer, and when Gay mentioned the -invitation, he jumped at it, and went. - -So one fine morning in May found brother and sister in the train, and -Rensslaer waited for them at the station with a pair of magnificent -Trotting horses, harnessed to a light road wagon of hickory wood and -steel. Inviting Gay to share the very small seat with him, he -pointed out, to the Professor's intense relief, a sober open carriage -for the latter's use. - -"Take care, Gay," Frank cried quaveringly after her, as she squeezed -in beside Rensslaer, and the next moment, her host's hands twisted -into the loops of the reins, they were sweeping through the silent -streets, and out on to the open road, the air whistling in their -ears, the dust striking Gay's eyes and cheeks like pellets, the -country almost indistinguishable as they flew past, and the sensation -so thrilling that she surrendered herself to it in complete enjoyment. - -Smoothly as a sleigh on snow, rode the frail vehicle of less than a -hundred pounds, and record-makers both, were the powerful steeds that -guided by the imperturbable driver with arms outstretched, swift as -the wind, swept up hill and down dale, only once beaten by a motor -that was afterwards overtaken, and then Rensslaer eased his steeds, -remarking that they had covered five miles in twelve minutes. - -By then they were in his park, and the horses went more quietly, so -that Gay had leisure to observe the sylvan beauty of the landscape -surrounding Elsinore, to notice the herds of deer visible in every -direction, and also his Indian fighting cocks, who roamed his fields -in intermittent warfare with the old English game. Somehow Gay felt -that all were sharers in that instinct of friendliness which seemed -to inspire his relations, not only with all his dumb retainers, but -with his fellow-humans as well. - -Original in his house as in everything else, Elsinore was an extended -copy of a Russian peasant's cottage. Made of logs, with a great deal -of carving in wood, and a big Russian stove in each room, the -furniture was covered with linen, embroidered in blue and red by -Russian peasants, the tiles of the stoves being incised in dark blue, -red, emerald green, and gold with white, in true peasant style. - -Simplicity was evidently his rule of life, but one room was filled to -the ceiling with books, and to this the Professor naturally -gravitated on his arrival. Leaving him perfectly happy among those -rare editions of which at odd times Rensslaer was an inveterate -collector, Gay and her host sauntered through the quaint house, -singularly modest for the far-spreading park surrounding it, but -containing many trophies of his skill, and to her utter astonishment, -in other realms than that of sport. - -The cases full of gold and silver medals, of stars and decorations, -interested her very little, nor did Rensslaer trouble to explain that -none of those prizes were for horses, but for a domain in which he -stood alone as champion of the world. But she came to a full stop -before the figure, raised on a pedestal, of a girl with strange -barbaric head-dress above her sweet face, hands folded on breast, and -the drapery a little blown away from the exquisite line of back and -hips, and "Exhibited Allied Artists, 190-" written below. - -"That's La Russie," he said. "The colouring and tinting are an exact -reproduction of the actual dress and jewels." - -"It's beautiful," said Gay, to whom the colouring mattered nothing -but the idea was everything, and reluctantly she tore herself away to -look at an Indian Chief in all his war paint, and modelled in silver, -on a table hard by. - -From the summit of his brow, and outlining his haughty back, his -feathers made a regal silhouette that extended beyond his horse's -tail, and the contrast of his grim impassivity, and icy air of -detachment, with the horse's eagerness as it strained forward was -marvellously rendered, making Gay declare that the horse was a dear, -and that whoever did that, must love horses. - -The same remark applied to a model of Ascetics Silver, winner of the -Grand National 1906, his ribs plainly showing, his upward, -proudly-soaring eye, dilated nostrils, and the veins standing out on -his face and body, drawing from her a cry of delight. Beneath was -written, "Exhibited Paris Society Animal Painters," and the name of -the sculptor made the girl jump. - -"_You_ did _that?_" she cried incredulously, the colour rushing to -her face. - -"And here is my Little Mermaid," said Rensslaer, and Gay knew that -what she saw before her was dear to him. - -"What a darling!" she exclaimed, and indeed it was a sweet little -body, with childish, startled eyes, and hands impulsively put up to -her cheeks. One could _see_ the grief and horror in the poor little -thing's face--for of course she was watching her beautiful human -prince being married, and the tears seemed to be just coming. - -It was a wonderful piece of work, and threw a new light on -Rensslaer's character. Gay realised vividly how strong the love of -beauty was in him, how great the power that enabled him to create it, -how profoundly some human experience must have wrought in his mind to -produce such results. - -She was silent, shy even, as he showed her the picture of his -grandfather, who had written a wonderful book on religion that had -estranged him from his family, and that the Professor was even at -that moment handling reverently in the library. - -"And this is my great-great-great-grandfather," said Rensslaer as -they turned from the inspired head, the tremendous intellectual force -of the author, to an obvious Dutchman of quite another type, but just -as remarkable. - -"He was a famous Dutch painter--our present name is an ugly -corruption of his. We can't help it," said Rensslaer whimsically, -"we must all follow art in one form or another--" And this was the -man who, by the irony of circumstance, was by the multitude supposed -to regard fast Trotting as the be-all and end-all of life! Gay -blushed to think of his amusement when she at first regarded him in -the same light--it was perhaps to correct this impression that he had -invited her here, but no, he was too modest, too sincere for that. - -"I've never wanted to be a man till I knew you," said Gay a little -enviously; "you turn perpetually from one thing to another, and there -can be no dull moment in your existence." - -Was there not? Across his brown eyes came a shadow that gave the lie -to her words, and once again Gay wondered what the secret romance of -his life was, this man whose ideals of beauty were of the highest, as -his capacity for interpreting them, a conjunction that is very rare. - -They were looking at an extraordinary collection of pistols of which -Rensslaer merely pointed out the exquisite workmanship, and it had -just occurred to her that she had heard somewhere that he was a fine -shot, when a servant came to announce luncheon, and on looking for -the Professor, they found him where they had left him. He had merely -moved entranced from book to book that he had long coveted, and one -rare edition had almost, as Frank confessed, slid into his coat-tail -pocket, so that when Rensslaer asked him to accept it, his joy knew -no bounds. - -Yet, after all, Rensslaer's heart was in his horses, not books, as -Gay discovered, when after luncheon, followed by the Italian -greyhound that adored and never willingly left him, they walked -towards the racing track, on the inside of which was turf smooth as a -billiard-table, and surrounding it in the distance, a great belt of -glorious trees. - -Gay glanced round eagerly; there was no sign of a horse anywhere, no -stables within sight or hearing, only a peaceful sylvan landscape. -Perfect quiet prevailed as Rensslaer explained to her that his -Trotters were practised, not on the track, but on grass, if they were -to be shown where the ring is of grass, as otherwise a trotter would -be apt to break. - -"This grass is kept mown very short, and the turns are purposely not -banked up," said Rensslaer, "as they never are at English horse -shows, and the horses have to get used to it. I shoe my horses with -spikes when showing, so that they shall not slip up, and have strong -wheels made for my speed wagons, as the strain on unbanked-up turns, -is apt to buckle a very light wheel, which is quite safe on turns -that are banked-up. - -He then showed her that on the half-mile track there were -quarter-mile posts, and also eighth of a mile posts at the ends of -the "straights"; the track was two "straights," of an eighth, and two -turns of an eighth of a mile at each end. - -"A horse's utmost speed for an eighth can thus be tested," said -Rensslaer. "It is never advisable to put a horse at his utmost limit -for more than an eighth." - -Excusing himself for a brief minute, Gay next saw him in enormous -goggles, bunched up on a slender sulky weighing about twenty-eight -pounds, swinging round curves behind a Trotter that did half a mile -in about a minute or so, and yet never broke into a gallop, and Gay -realised that not so much in his Trotters themselves, as in the -masterly driving of them, Rensslaer's pleasure consisted. He held -his arms differently--he drove differently to anyone she had seen -before, in its essence his was the same deep joy that Chris found in -the riding at which he excelled. - -Her heart warmed to him as she thought of how he had spared her the -humiliation of knowing that Mackrell and she had been playing at a -bad make-believe all the time, that the difference between their -horses and Rensslaer's was, that his had quality, shape, and -soundness--they looked like well-bred chargers, carried themselves -with perfect balance, their hind legs well under them, stopping at a -word without any pulling or fighting, and when the mile was finished, -standing quite still. The sort of horse to which she and Carlton -were accustomed, were mostly unsound old screws which had a fast -record in America many years before, but having broken down, or being -otherwise cheap, had been bought and patched up, then raced in -England. - -At first they had horrified Gay, these poor old raw-boned pacers with -bent knees and hobbles, pulling all on one rein, with any amount of -appliances to enable the man who was pulling for dear life to be able -to hold them, or else little rats of Iceland ponies shuffling along, -and only fit to be seen in a coster's barrow. - -"And to think," cried Gay, in tragic tones, "that Carlton and I -fancied _ourselves_--our trotters, I mean!" - -"Of course," said Rensslaer, "although speed is the first essential, -I will have no horse which is not absolutely sound, has not good -manners, and does not have to wear boots (except as a precaution -against accident when racing), and a light mouth." - -Gay nodded. She had for the first time discovered how deceptive the -long, raking stride of a record trotter is, for without appearing to -move fast, he is yet making phenomenal time on the track, as drawing -the light, four-wheeled racing wagon with rubber-tyred bicycle -wheels, he glides smoothly along. - -Then one by one, or in pairs, the finest animals in the stables were -shown. Yet with so little effort did horse after horse, team after -team, draw up under the trees in the background, and succeed each -other, that they only blended with the beauty of the landscape, did -not disturb it, and Gay presently gave a great sigh of delight. - -"Oh," she said, "it's too much! I'd like the whole world to enjoy -it--it's too good for poor little me!" - -"Well," said Rensslaer quietly, "it will--later." - -It was a lovely day, with zephyr breezes--the great charm of it all -was, that there was nothing to suggest the circus or show ring, no -crowd, no betting, no shouting hoarse voices to break the peace, only -splendid animals full of fire, energy, and work, who were just going -at their best for sheer joy in life, joy in their own swiftness, -strength and beauty, delighted to run their race with the green sward -underfoot, and the blue sky overhead. - -Rensslaer had made her free of a new and glorious world--the world of -horses, Chris's world. She longed for him to be there also, for -though she keenly appreciated the daintiness of these thoroughbreds, -their delicate legs and feet, the sheen of their satin coats, their -perfection of grace and movement, she yet felt that she was not -sufficiently a connoisseur to give to every point its full value, as -Chris would so well have known how to do. - -"Getting ready for Olympia," said Rensslaer, as a thoroughbred -galloper was harnessed in a jogging cart, and accompanied the -trotters at a hard gallop, often being put to his utmost stretch to -keep up with them, after which Rensslaer showed her several "eighths" -in 15 seconds, a two-minute speed for a mile. - -"Just fancy if that dare-devil and Chris got together!" whispered Gay -when there rode out from beneath the trees a superb horseman, young, -cool as a cucumber, who, riding the centre horse, holding the two -outside ones, put them at an obstacle that they cleared like birds. - -"He has broken every bone in his body," said Rensslaer grimly; "the -last time the doctor said it was his back, but he wouldn't admit -it--and here he is, you see!" - -The boy gave them a taste of his quality when presently his horse -twice swerved aside from the jump, an American runabout luggage -wagon, but cleared it the third time--and once more Gay thought of -Chris, for the two men were alike in not knowing what fear was. The -resemblance between the two physically, struck her at once--each was -tall, and lean to a fault, each had the same dash and devilry, the -same indomitable pluck, each took an "outing" as part of the day's -sport, and with the fixed purpose to go on doing and daring, and as -by a miracle each had hitherto escaped the clutching hand of death, -and flown beyond its reach. - -And yet--and yet, as Chris said, could one die better? She recalled -Robert Louis Stevenson's query, "_And does not life go down with a -better grace, foaming in full body over a precipice, than miserably -straggling to an end in sandy deltas?_" - -Those two magnificent horsemen, Whyte Melville and Hughie Owen, went -out at the sport that they loved, and save for those whom they loved, -would they have wished to go any differently? - -"I'm very proud of my jumpers," said Rensslaer, who was a keen -hunting man, getting in his six days a week during the winter. "That -horse"--he pointed one out--"was parted with by his former owner -because he could not jump, and since then, he has cleared six feet -ten inches high, and once a seven-feet jump. But the Belgians will -win the high-jumping competition at Olympia--Belgian officers easily -out-jump the world,"--and he related some notable feats of theirs, -remarking with great approval that they govern their horses by -kindness. "As you do," thought Gay. - -"That," said Rensslaer, as the handsome rider of a beautiful roan -gelding made his horse dance, and paw, and prance with extraordinary -perfection, in all the tricks of the _Haute École_, "is the best show -rider in Europe." - -And so the "private view" went on, it was all quite effortless, and -apparently so unpremeditated, then presently, as she and Rensslaer -quietly chatted, Gay felt the peace accentuated, and glanced around. -They had the wide, lovely park to themselves; the distant trees, -beneath which had emerged the pick of the world's equine beauty, -threw long shadows on the sward only, and Rensslaer, glancing at his -watch, remarked that the Professor would think they were lost. - -"Poor fellow! What he has missed!" said Gay, while Frank, wrapped in -ecstasy, was oblivious of time and place, of everything but having -the run of a treasure-house to which eternity itself could not enable -him to do full justice. - -Rensslaer showed her the polo ground, and part of the steeplechase -course, two miles long, then proposed a visit to the stables that -were so completely invisible from the park or house. But now he -turned sharply to the side of the latter, and by a steep, winding -path concealed among trees, they emerged on the great quadrangle. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -AN EQUINE PARADISE - -In striking contrast to the simplicity of Rensslaer's house was the -vastness of these outdoor belongings, where was celebrated the cult, -the worship, the very apotheosis of the horse, and yet the atmosphere -was one of rest; the sunlight slanted through the green boughs that -overhung the wall, the water sparkled in the centre, there were no -signs of hurry, and but few visible of the small army that served the -beauties in their stalls and loose boxes. There must be magnificent -organisation here, thought Gay, as she noted the noiseless, perfect -machinery--when a man was wanted, he sprang up, when not wanted, was -not to be seen, and without raising his voice, Rensslaer's orders -were implicitly obeyed--even for the "show" arranged that afternoon -he had merely dropped a few words to his stud groom, and the thing -had gone by itself. - -As she moved from horse to horse, each with his famous name on the -wall above, and below, a print of one equally famous, and in the -centre, a superb medallion in marble of a famous trotter going at -full speed, Gay admired the way they just turned their heads to look -quietly at her, like the true aristocrats that they were. But -Rensslaer was another matter--they knew him even better than he knew -them, and manifested the most lively pleasure when he called each by -name. - -"Look out!" he exclaimed, as Gay approached a veteran of twenty-one -years old, who was only retired for old age, after racing till he was -nine, getting a record at 2.15, and then being driven constantly hard -on the road till two years ago. "He won't let anyone but me go near -him," explained his owner, "he bites everyone else. Each of these -horses has worn out five or six of the English carriage horses that -did not have nearly so hard a life"--and he explained that the -American horse can do the work of two hackneys, his legs being as -hard as iron. - -Amongst the old pensioners, (as their master had never sold a horse -that had done him good service) he showed Joe W., a horse seventeen -hands two inches high, who was nineteen years old. He had driven him -on the road twelve years, had raced, and only now retired him because -he was getting old, though his legs were still perfectly sound and he -had never been lame, except once from an overreach in a race. He had -not been coddled, but whenever he was driven on the road, was pelted -along at twenty miles an hour, however hard that road might be. - -Only the pick of the horses were stabled there--about sixty were at a -place too far off for Gay to visit, and she got bewildered when she -found that the stable sheltered scores of horses collected from all -points of the compass--English hackneys, American, Russian, and -Austrian trotters, polo ponies, hunters, exhibition leaping horses, -and harness ponies, but Rensslaer did not go in much for -steeplechasing, and for what was done, the boy who had ridden just -now, was responsible. - -Gay sighed. What a little heaven to Chris, and what would not he and -that other boy do--a pair of dare-devils--if pitted against each -other! She dreaded, while she longed for him to know such bliss, and -herein lay her inconsistency--that she herself loved horses, was -happiest near them, yet would put a limit to Chris's far greater -passion, as if it were to be measured by rule of thumb! - -It was in this spirit that she asked Rensslaer to get him down later, -but on no account to let him and the other boy meet, and Rensslaer -laughed, and promised. He had already decided on making Chris a -certain offer, and had great hopes that he might accept it. - -Resuming their progress, he explained to Gay that his horses did one -thing only--the trotters only trotted, the jumpers only jumped, and -the horses went through special courses of medicine, and special -courses of food on a strict system. To train a horse so that he -shall be both heavy and fit, requires a refinement of training to -which only the Americans have attained, and at Elsinore the most -elaborate system of discipline was carried out, but in a kindly -spirit, and the horse prepared for the life he had to lead. He took -her off to the breeding paddocks, that had a lot of both American -ex-champion trotting and "Pace and Action" mares, and also prize -hackney mares, all with foals by trotters and hackneys, his idea -being to breed, besides racing trotters, for racing on the Continent, -show horses which should have more speed and quality than the -hackney, whilst retaining their action, and to this end he crossed -the American trotter with the hackney. - -"If my attempts to improve the English hackney by giving him some of -the pace and action of the fast trotting horse should be crowned with -success, I shall be satisfied," he told Gay, and he pointed out a -foal that looked like a thoroughbred, and moved like a trotter with -hackney action. In fact, most of these cross-bred foals looked the -ideal carriage horse--good whole colours, great quality, long necks, -very high action, great speed, and perfect manners, and there was -never any difficulty in breaking them. Then came an inspection of -the racing sulkies, which had an extra low seat so as to come round -the turns better; then there were the long-shaft sulkies for a horse -who has high action, and makes the ordinary sulky bob up and down, -the jogging carts for exercising in, and the four-wheeled, -single-seated racing wagons, called speed wagons, used by gentlemen -driving in the States for Matinée or Amateur Trotting races. This -obviates the necessity of spreading the legs apart on each side of -the horse, and for some horses this does not diminish their speed, in -fact they can go faster in a wagon than in a sulky, in spite of the -extra weight, as it runs smoother, and does not hamper them. - -Rensslaer next took Gay to the outdoor training school, which is -specially designed for the education of jumpers, on the inner side of -which was a platform from which the attendants controlled them, and -she watched them run loose on the track, jumping heavy tree trunks, -fences, and other obstacles, and if they failed in their riderless -freedom to clear them, they gained experience in the tumble that -ensued, which served them well later. - -She was shown how a horse is made familiar with the trials and the -terrors of the road, and is taught to understand them. A machine -that makes a noise like a score of motors all going at once, -convinces the animal that the hateful thing means no danger to him, -and quick to take a hint as his nature is, he approaches with -confidence and freedom the tasks he has to face in his curriculum, -and is soon well-equipped to face the emergencies of his career. - -Then followed an extraordinary exhibition of skill in which Rensslaer -was evidently keenly interested, that consisted in the lassoing of a -supposed vicious horse by long reins held in the hands of the _Haute -École_ rider, so that he is brought first to one knee, and then -another, and rendered helpless, and the lesson taught him that force -is of no avail against brains and cunning. - -Gay sighed when at last they left the great quadrangle, steeped in -the peace of the evening hour, and visited the yard where choice -Belgian griffons and Pomeranians yelped in ecstatic chorus when -Rensslaer approached their kennels--yet much as Gay loved dogs, she -could not admire them like the beauties she had just left. Moreover, -it was growing late, and they entered the house. - -When she had dug out the Professor, still dead to the world, and -asking nothing better than to remain dead, they had tea, and departed. - -"Really a most remarkable individual, my dear," said the Professor, -for a man who could do all the varied things his host could, and yet -have the brains and taste to collect such books as the Professor had -been gloating over, was not to be met above once in a lifetime. "In -_his_ case, success is not due to his wealth." - -"In spite of it, you mean!" cried Gay. "If it's easier for a camel -to go through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to enter the -kingdom of heaven, it's a million times more difficult for him to -live his own life, act up to his ideals, and fulfil the genius that -is in him. The world won't _let_ him as a rule." - -"And to think that such a man as that should keep _Trotters_!" said -the Professor, who, if he thought at all of what Gay had been doing -that glorious June afternoon, concluded that she had enthused over -something a trifle better than the weedy specimens he had seen at -Waterloo Park. - -But Gay sat very still, thinking. She had found herself admitted to -a paradise hitherto undreamed of; it was as if, seeking a single -diamond, she had found a Golconda, and something of Chris's passion -for horses had been breathed into her ... they were so much, much -more beautiful than humans, more clever even in some respects ... -with one-half of her soul she worshipped, with the other half feared -them, as the real rivals to her happiness. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE TUG-OF-WAR - -Chris looked very white and thin, but just as smart as ever, and -completely unsubdued in spirit and intention, when he called in -Connaught Square one afternoon late in May, and found Gay in. - -She looks prettier than ever, he thought, if less rounded than of -yore, and if he had expressed sorrow at causing her so much pain, -Gay's tender heart would instantly have melted, but for all his -delight at seeing her, his evident determination to treat his -accident as a trifle not worth talking about, put her back up to -begin with. And when he unblushingly asked her to condole with him -on the number of good things he had missed, and roundly abused the -Professor and his understudy, for refusing him permission to ride -with an arm strapped to his side, Gay's patience gave way utterly, -and the first little rift within the lute made itself known. - -Poor Chris felt that coldness in the air, but had not the key to the -puzzle, and he could not make Gay out. Instead of the jolly little -girl, eager to hear all about his stable, to discuss his horses, his -hopes and future chances, to buck him up as she had so often done -when things went wrong, she did not seem to have a word to throw to -him except about trivial matters that didn't in the least interest -him--or her, formerly. - -How could he tell that those moments in which she saw his colours -closed in by a mêlée of struggling horses and men, had changed her -from a careless, happy-go-lucky girl, who laughed at accidents, had -scarcely flung a fear even to death, to a thoughtful woman whose -outlook on life would never again be quite the same? In a word, what -he did before had not mattered, but now that she knew she loved him, -it _did_, yet this solution never occurred to him, nor was there -anything in her manner to suggest it--quite the reverse, in fact. - -He asked her a few questions about her horses, and what they had done -lately, as the papers did not always chronicle their doings, and she -told him of their failures and successes, quite without enthusiasm, -and Chris came to the conclusion that experience and Rensslaer -combined, had put her off Trotting. And if she did not tell him that -her horses were entered for no more fixtures after the end of June, -and that her brief connection with Trotting would altogether cease on -her return from abroad, Chris saw, clearly enough, that she took no -more interest in the sport into which she had so light-heartedly -plunged, than she did in his. - -If hitherto Gay's life had been regulated by a warm heart, high -spirits, and quick wits, he knew that it was so no longer, and -resented the change in her. Sunbeams might not fulfil any recognised -place in the scheme of creation, but they were delightful all the -same, and he had been quite satisfied with her as she was. If he had -only known it, she loved him at that moment more than ever, realising -now she was with him, how completely he had spoiled her for everyone -else, that he was the one companion of whom she never tired, never -could tire. - -"Frank and I are going abroad early in July," she said presently, and -Chris's face lengthened. Steeplechasing was over for the year, and -until he began to train his horses at the end of August, there was -only the flat racing he despised, very seldom took the trouble to -look at--and now Gay, on whose precious company he had counted, was -going away in a little more than a month. - -"I shan't be riding again till autumn, worse luck," he said. "And -I'm too late for Olympia." - -Gay looked at him, half-angry, half-reluctantly admiring--here he -was, a mere gaunt shadow of himself, after the worst outing he had -ever had, with only one longing--to court another! - -Chris was very sensitive, and his hatred of talking about himself was -only equalled by his horror of being a bore. So although the change -in her manner hurt him more than either he or she knew, he abruptly -changed the subject. - -"You'll let me escort you to your meetings now, with Lossie, of -course," he added grudgingly. "Tom Bulteel will be jolly glad to be -off duty, I expect." - -"And Effie too," said Gay candidly. "She did detest coming with me -so, but they both played up splendidly, even if Tom's temper has been -perfectly horrid." - -"And where is this wonderful Gold Vase?" said Chris, looking at the -centre of the carpet as if he expected to see it installed there as -tutelary god. - -"Oh, I hate it!" cried poor Gay, with tears in her voice. "It's -covered over with a piece of sackcloth--I mean silk--in my den. It -was won by a fraud--paid for with Carlton's good name--the great -mistake was his thinking I'd value anything bought at such a cost." - -"He never expected that brute to follow him up and see the -toe-weights trick," said Chris consolingly. "Honest men can't play -the rogue, and that's about all there is to it. Heard from him -lately?" - -"He is doing a cure at Aix--for the sake of the scenery, you know!" -she laughed. "I have had some cheerful, gossiping letters from him," -and Chris nodded carelessly, as at a matter of no interest to either. -Mackrell had played the fool, and must take the consequences. - -Then there was a horrid pause--a pause between these two who usually -chattered like magpies when they got together! - -"I made a scrap-book out of the snapshots and sketches of you," said -Chris, rather gravely. "By a moderate computation there are -somewhere about thirty, and I divided them into groups--the -decent"--he hesitated--"the--not nice--and the positively libellous." - -Gay coloured warmly. If her escapade had brought her a _succès de -scandal_, caused her to be surrounded wherever she went in public, -and make acquaintances faster than she wanted, she knew well enough -the subtle difference in men's manners towards her, since she had -courted publicity. - -"It wasn't such a very awful thing to do, really," she said, with a -rebellious toss of her red-brown head. "It was only those spiteful -wretches made it _look_ bad." - -"I'd rather see a picture of you as you look now," said Chris -quietly, and Gay blushed again, the gentlest of reproofs always hit -her hard. - -"You see, Chris," she said earnestly, "I had always _longed_ to drive -myself--I had had two trial spins in private--and when I saw my -driver was tight at the critical moment, of course I ought to have -asked Mr. Rensslaer to take his place, but the temptation was too -irresistible, and, of course, I fell." - -"So, apparently, did one of the competitors," said Chris; "broke an -arm or leg, didn't he? So, you see, Trotting people can have -accidents as well as jockeys." - -Gay reluctantly admitted the fact. - -"Of course," she said, "such a fall may be anything from a scratched -face up to being killed--one of Mr. Rensslaer's drivers had just such -a fall, not from hobbles, but from the track being badly made, and -the man did not hurt himself a bit, but he has known a man killed by -it. Still, you may say that of every sport. Take hunting--" - -"Oh, Lord," cried Chris, "don't compare our national pastime with -Trotting, please!" - -But Gay affected not to hear. "I can quite understand a man being -fond of riding, or even of 'riding jolly,'" she said severely. "Our -forefathers did--and on considerably more jumping powder than in -these almost Spartan days--and it must be a lovely feeling that -everything is plain sailing, that neither you nor your horse are -capable of making a mistake--in that heavenly state of mind you do -remarkable things over and over again that you never could do in cold -blood--but that is quite a different thing to steeplechasing!" - -"Quite," agreed Chris in a tone that made Gay turn away indignantly, -thinking of Carlton, and what he had not hesitated to do for her. -Yes, Chris was certainly doing his best to throw her into his absent -rival's arms, while on the other hand he was cut to the heart by her -reception of him, so utterly different to the one for which during -long weeks of pain he had longed. - -Unconsciously, he had looked for a little of that "mothering" that -the best kind of woman knows how to give the man she loves, when in -trouble, but Chris's pride was more than equal to his tenderness of -heart, and he gave no sign of his wound. - -"Mr. Rensslaer has asked us over to his place at Vienna--he is going -to let me drive one of his Trotters for him. After all," cried Gay, -becoming only the more rebellious under Chris's grave looks--Chris -the gay-hearted, whom she had confidently reckoned on to think her -right whatever she did--"why should a thing that is right in Vienna, -be wrong in England?" - -"In Rome," murmured Chris vaguely, "you must do as the 'Rum-uns' do." - -"Oh," cried Gay impatiently, "we know that vice and virtue are -matters of climate and colour, that what is right in the east, is -wrong in the west, and it's the same with Trotting--if I am satirised -in England, I shall make up for it in the encouragement and respect I -shall get abroad!" - -She jumped up, and fetched some large photographs that represented an -attractive girl driving one of Rensslaer's trotters, and Chris -mentally compared this modest presentment of a modest woman, in an -elegant conveyance, with the fiendish cleverness of a sketch -representing Gay perched upon a shining skeleton wagon, with a -charming leg stretched along a shaft on either side of it. - -"You're too good for it, Gay," he said, "either there or here. -Rensslaer is right--there is no future for Trotting under present -conditions in England." - -Gay shrugged her shoulders, and abruptly, contemptuously even, -changed the subject. - -"I am looking forward tremendously to Olympia," she said, "aren't -you?" - -"I suppose the jumping will be all right. I hear the fences are to -be very much higher than any seen before in other shows in England, -that gentlemen are to ride instead of stable-boys, is good." - -There was a note in his voice that made Gay sigh impatiently, and -turn her head away; here was the ruling idea, strong in death, or -what was very near it. - -"Rensslaer must have his hands full," said Chris. "Awfully decent -chap--he has looked me up several times." He did not say that he had -encouraged him, as bringing news of Gay. - -"Oh, he's delightful," said she as tea appeared, and she began to -pour it out. "His naïveté, his tremendous natural ability, whether -he's revolver-shooting, or writing a play, or modelling, or driving -Trotters, or judging horses, or nursing a cat, or taking a lot of -trouble about a silly girl like me and my stupid fancies, there's no -one like him!" - -But Chris was not jealous, though some men might have misunderstood -Gay's intense admiration of Rensslaer's genius and many-sidedness, -and the pleasure his friendship had clearly brought into her life. - -"You know the papers have engaged you to him?" he said, and thought -of an extremely uncomplimentary snapshot of Rensslaer, crouched low -on his seat, and made ferocious by his huge goggles, published in the -papers side by side with Gay. - -"Why?" she said incredulously. "Do you suppose that a man like that -would care for a silly little ignoramus like me?" - -"Men hate brains," said Chris grumpily, and his temper was not -improved by being told that it was only _boys_ who did. - -"He wants you to go down to Elsinore," said Gay. "Oh, Chris, the -peace of that great quadrangle--the luxury of those stables that yet -compass the most perfect simplicity of service to those beautiful -creatures--you'll be like a boy in a sweet-shop, running about from -one joy to another and loth to leave any. To run through his hundred -or so of horses, will take you approximately, I should say, a year of -undulterated bliss!" - -"I don't know that his stable will interest me so much," objected -Chris. "You see, he doesn't go in for steeplechasing--it's driving -he's great at." - -"Why, he _loves_ his horses," cried Gay indignantly. "It's his -humanising influence in the stable--loving the dear beasts, not for -what they do, and the money to be made out of them, but for what they -_are_--that's so lovely." - -Chris sighed. To love horses, and live among the world's pick of -them as Rensslaer did, was a lot that the most fortunate man alive -might envy. - -"Chris?" - -"Yes?" - -"Aunt Lavinia has been a great comfort to me while you were laid up." -Chris smiled--it was a sign of grace in her that she had need of -comforting. - -"I didn't know till she told me--how--how charitable you are. No -wonder you're always hard up, when you give away most of your -winnings in helping poor, wretched people!" - -Chris coloured. - -"I don't," he said. "Aunt Lavinia has been pulling your leg." - -"Has it ever struck you that I am very selfish?" inquired Gay -anxiously. - -"Often--about not making me happy. And it would be so easy, and -so--er--so pleasant," said Chris, with the lines that meant mischief -wrinkling his young eyes. - -"You know," said Gay hastily, "somehow my ambitions seem _common_ to -me when I look at that dear little lady, who lives entirely for -others, and I question my right to waste money as I do on Trotting -and otherwise. Oh, I'm not a Socialist"-- - -"I should hope not," said Chris significantly. "It just means that -you make another man work for you while you idle, and then curse him -because he does not make enough to give you luxuries." - -"Oh, I'm idle enough," said Gay remorsefully, "but I _do_ feel a -burning desire to see the rich enjoy less, and the poor and -unfortunate _suffer_ less, and I know perfectly well that I ought to -sell my horses-- - -"They wouldn't fetch much," said Chris, chuckling unkindly. "But -there's nothing I'd enjoy more than putting 'em up at -Tattersall's--if they're good enough for Tat's." - -Gay turned very white, and a flash like steel came into her grey -eyes--few people had ever seen it, but it meant mischief. - -"And I to see you put up yours," she said quietly. "When you drop -racing, Chris, you may talk to me about Trotting--not before." - -Chris too had turned very pale, he understood now. He was to tear -out what was in the very blood and fibre of him--what had been in -countless generations of his hard-riding, sporting forefathers... - -"You ask me for my very life itself," he said heavily. "Even my -mother never asked me that impossibility. She placed my deep -happiness in riding before her own peace of mind always." - -Yes, his mother had known how to love him better than that.... He -must possess great qualities to love, and be so beloved by his -mother, that their love went on, unbroken even by death. After all, -Gay asked herself, was it not _she_ who was selfish, not he? - -Had Chris but looked at her in that moment of insight, of revelation, -each might have been spared much sorrow, but he was staring straight -before him, his face set and stern at the _impasse_ to which he and -Gay had come--he thought he knew now the real reason why she had -refused him at the Ffolliott's dance. - -At that pregnant moment the door opened slowly, and a timid face came -round the corner, like a rabbit peering from a burrow; since Min -Toplady's visit, the Professor always looked first to see if Lossie -were there, before entering. - -"Are you alone, my dear? Ah, only Chris, I see," and the Professor -came forward, and shook his 'case's' hand warmly. If only the boy -could be weaned from steeplechasing, there was no one he would like -better for a brother-in-law, though of course it must be a long--a -very long engagement. - -"I wish," he said presently to Chris in his tactless way, "that you -would persuade Gay to listen to reason, and give up Trotting." - -"He had better get the whip-hand of _himself_ before he tries to -manage others," cried Gay; then looking at Chris, white, wasted, -invincible in his weakness, her heart was pierced with cruel pain. -He looked like slipping through, without the help of any more -accidents, and what would life be worth to her without him? - -As she moved to the window, and stood looking out, she lived again -those awful moments at Sandown, yet when she came back to the two -men, her face told nothing, for if Chris had pluck, she had grit, and -the latter wears best in the long run. - -"Each to its own, Heron," she said--"you to your books and -microscope, Chris to his racers, and I to my Trotters; there isn't a -pin to choose between the selfishness of any one or us!" - -And Chris, when presently he said good-bye, thought grimly that she -was about right. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -CARLTON'S "LITTLE BILL" - -It was characteristic of Carlton Mackrell that he should turn up -unexpectedly in the Park one afternoon, looking his usual unruffled -self, and greet the little party sitting under a tree, as if he had -only parted from them a few hours earlier. - -No thought of the presentation of his "little bill" cooled the warmth -of Gay's welcome; Lossie paid him the tribute of nearly fainting from -excess of joy, while Chris, who knew his only real rival with Gay to -be his own passion for steeplechasing, was cordiality itself. - -It was one of the few sunny afternoons in a summer that was the very -abomination of desolation, and Carlton, who looked very brown and -well, was clearly glad to be back in the world--his world, that never -enthused, or got excited, or asked questions, but took everything for -granted in its own delightful way. He liked its indifference to the -non-essentials of social intercourse, its tranquility and spacious -forgiving humours, its freedom from conventions, and disdain for -little things--yes, with all its charms and vices, English society -alone had the art of life. Even Rensslaer, who was a cosmopolitan in -his tastes and habits, had once admitted to Carlton that he had made -his home in England because, as he frankly confessed, London had his -heart. - -"When I am here, I always feel that I am at the centre of -things--right at the heart of all there's happening," he said. "You -don't feel this in any other city in the world--but London is the -whole world itself, squeezed into a few square miles." - -Gay, if she were nervous, did not suffer it to appear, but chaffed -Carlton mercilessly about his rheumatism, inquiring if he had found -its cure at the Aix gaming tables, and in those _dolce far niente_ -drives on the old Roman roads that she herself adored. - -He laughed, looking very happy, and very handsome--indeed the -quartette were in such high spirits, and of such conspicuous good -looks, as to attract an unusual amount of attention, Gay heard one -woman murmur in passing them, "three angels--and an Immortal," the -latter with a glance at Chris that sent a pang to her heart. - -Carlton was genuinely shocked at Chris's looks (for which Gay was -almost as much responsible as his accident), but delighted to find -that there was no understanding between the two. Daily during his -stay abroad he had expected to hear the news of their engagement, and -if nothing had happened in all these weeks, well, the presumption -was, that nothing would. - -It wanted a good week to the Horse Show; town was at its very best, -and Gay, who was always restless now, gave her whole mind to -frivolity, greatly to Lossie's delight. The four young people filled -the days, and the greater part of their nights, with amusements of -every kind, so that, as the Professor declared, Gay only used her -house to sleep in, seldom to feed. - -With two of the party happy, for Lossie was in triumphant beauty, and -quite satisfied at the way things were going, and the other two -playing up brilliantly, they made the gayest possible quartette, and -more than once, either as host or guest, Rensslaer joined them, to -Gay's manifest pleasure. - -It was not surprising that Carlton quite wrongly attributed Gay's -welcome change of front about trotting, to Rensslaer's influence, for -although that sport was the one tabooed subject with them all, he -knew from Tugwood, who had insisted on keeping him well posted, that -she seldom took the trouble to see her horses run now. - -But he was equally correct in thinking that her friendship with -Rensslaer had developed a side of her character that up to now, no -one had been aware of, and with some mortification realised, that -neither he nor Chris had allowed for the spirituality that is in -every woman worthy of the name, and that Rensslaer so fully -recognised. - -While just as original, Gay had wider sympathies, read more, thought -more, and that she had a very genuine and even warm affection for -Rensslaer, no one could doubt who saw them together. She displayed -an eager pleasure when they met, that neither of the two younger men -by any means evoked--it happened, therefore, that Carlton came to -entirely misunderstand the position, be as certain that the man was -in love with Gay (for a lover always thinks the whole world is in -league to want what he wants), as he suspected Gay, out of sheer -perversity, to fancy herself in love with Rensslaer. - -With men of Carlton Mackrell's type and position, brains are never -admitted, or if possessed, they are sedulously hidden--it would be -bad form, make uncomfortable other men to use them, and he had never -seriously considered their value till now, when he saw the mental -hold that Rensslaer had taken on her. But the more complex a man is, -the better he likes a woman to be purely normal, and like Chris, -Carlton by no means approved of the change in Gay. - -He thought of the sweet perfume of the wild hawthorn, of how the -cultivated, double variety, beautiful in shape and colour though it -may be, has none, and he missed the wildness and spontaneity, yes, -and the wilfulness that he loved in Gay, and longed to have it back -again. - -It was curious with what jealous iteration in conversation between -Carlton and Lossie, Rensslaer's name cropped up, and that the man -should display such incredible blindness to the real position of -affairs between Gay and Chris, appealed to Lossie's sense of humour. -She only bided her time to undeceive him, and the opportunity came at -Ranelagh on the Saturday preceding the opening of the Horse Show, -when somehow the two couples had got separated, as often happened. -It was a significant fact which seemed altogether to escape Carlton, -that uneasy as Gay and Chris seemed to be when together, it was -impossible to keep them apart. - -Sitting under the trees, Carlton and Lossie talked trifles till, as -was inevitable, Rensslaer's (to Carlton) abhorred personality -intruded, and the reason of his influence over Gay was debated. - -"I can't see his charm," said Carlton, who, like many other very -handsome men, quite unconsciously exaggerated the power of good looks -over women. - -"He's got a mind," said Lossie significantly, "and that lasts longest -in the long run." - -"So has Gay," said Carlton, "and that is the _point d'appui_ between -them. She could never put up with poor Hannen, who has but one idea -in his head--horses." - -"He has one other," she said quietly--"Gay. And Gay has only -one--Chris." - -A red flush showed under Carlton's dark skin, and he looked at Lossie -sharply, suspecting her of playing her own game, but if there is one -thing more than another that confounds a man, it is the purity of the -outline of a woman's cheek, as opposed to the deep artifice and -dissimulation of her soul. - -"They are _à tort et à travers_!" he exclaimed. "It's only because -there is no steeplechasing on, and Hannen is at a loose end, that he -sticks it." - -"She would marry him to-morrow if he would give up racing," said -Lossie, "and he won't. Neither will give way--and there's the rub. -And she's a fool," she added softly, "for a woman who loves, loves to -submit." - -"Gay won't," said Carlton, as he returned Lossie's gaze full. Good -Heavens! how lovely she was, with her forget-me-not eyes, and silky -masses of blue-black hair, framed in a wonderful hat and gown of -royal purplish-blue chiffon, that would have killed most women. He -wondered that Rensslaer had passed her by for Gay; for himself, of -course, it was different--he knew Gay's good qualities so well, her -disposition inside out. - -"Gay has a will of her own," he said. - -"And a heart," said Lossie significantly, "that runs away with her -head. You see, Chris looks so ill, and you so--so provokingly -_well_--" Her gaze lingered on his face warmly like a caress, and -indeed he was very good to look at. "There's something awfully -maternal about Gay--not to say 'sloppy'--wanting to help everyone, -like silly Aunt Lavinia, you know. It makes you so cheap," she -addedly rashly, and saw her mistake when Carlton, who liked -Lavinia--as who did not?--frowned, and suggested that they should -join the others. - -They found them silently looking on at a game of polo--if there were -a horse anywhere near, Chris gravitated naturally towards it--and for -a while they discussed the players and the cattle. - -"But Mr. Hannen will see better at Elsinore to-morrow," Gay said to -Carlton a little nervously. Each day, each hour seemed to bring -nearer to her the presentation of that "little bill," and there was a -dangerous spark in his eye that foretold trouble in the near future. -Indeed, as they stood quietly chatting about the wonders of Elsinore, -Carlton suddenly realised that Lossie had told him the truth, and -with a mad, hot rush of jealousy, that for the moment blinded him to -all sense of honour, he inly swore that he would obtain Gay at all -hazards, her love for Chris notwithstanding, using the steeplechase -difficulty as a means of accomplishing his desires. - -Lossie, reading him like a book, felt her heart sink. Yet, after -all, would it not be better when he had put his fate to the touch, -and realised once for all that Gay was not for him? He would take it -badly--very badly. He would go away again, but some day he would -come back--and even if he knew that she loved him, Lossie had not -committed the one sin that to a man is unpardonable, the sin of -boring him. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -A _MODUS VIVENDI_ - -Chris returned from Elsinore decidedly quiet, not to say subdued in -manner. Gay thought it was because in the enchanted world of horses -he had entered there, the steeplechaser found his true level, was -only one of many, not the be-all and end-all of existence; she also -concluded that Rensslaer had kept the dare-devil young rider, who had -given Gay a taste of his jumping capacity, out of sight, as indeed he -had. Oddly enough, Chris seemed more struck with Rensslaer's -personality and marvellous shooting, than anything else, and waxed -eloquent when he reported to Gay at dinner that night, all he had -seen and done during the day. - -"He's a fine chap," said Chris, "and a good sportsman--does some good -with _his_ money. By Jove! you should just see him shoot on -horseback! He's out of his element, an anachronism, in the garb of -civilisation, but in his shirt and breeches, he's an athlete, and a -model of skill and strength, while his mare is a marvel. I followed -at a distance on a pony, and to see him drop a stag with a right and -left, is a caution." - -He happened as he spoke to catch the eye of the Professor, who -stiffened visibly. - -"Dangerous things, firearms," he said. "I never have anything to do -with them myself, and as to shooting on horseback, I told you once -before, at the Ffolliott's dance, I think--that while a good horseman -in my youth, ahem! my riding days are now over." - -The Ffolliott's dance ... the hectic of excitement sank in Chris's -hollow cheeks ... how long ago it seemed ... and a dear little girl -faltering out that she wanted time ... crying her youth ... when all -the while she had made up her mind not to marry him because he loved -horses too well; yet how adorable she had been, how different from -the little shrew who was looking angrily at him at that moment! - -Yet poor Gay thought she had some reason for complaint. Was his talk -never to be of anything but sport in one form or another? Rensslaer -the artist, appealed to her much more than Rensslaer the champion -shot ... and then her thoughts went off with apparent, but not real, -inconsequence to Carlton Mackrell, whose aimless, pleasant life had -always annoyed her, but who had yet proved himself capable of a -romantic action for which few would have given him credit, as few -would themselves have committed it. - -Upstairs, after dinner, it was no better. - -There was the fresh, bright room with its heaps of flowers, just the -same as ever; there was Gay, prettier than ever, but no longer the -bright mortal whom one of her friends had christened "radium," so -continually did she carry sunshine about with her. There was little -enough warmth in the eyes that met Chris's, and how was he to know -that it was only by a violent effort she curbed the longing to put -out her hand, and touch the sunny head so near her own? - -He too was changed. Formerly nothing had been a trouble, and nobody -was a bore; he simply lived to please those he loved, and of these -Gay was chiefest, but ill-health probably, and heartache certainly, -were ruining his temper and his disposition for the time being. He -thought Gay very hard on him, and she thought him hard on himself--as -did Aunt Lavinia. - -Presently Chris sprang up, feeling that he could bear it no longer, -and pleading that he was tired with his long day at Elsinore, he left -early for Epsom, with more to think of than Gay guessed, and -dispirited to a degree she had no idea of, or perhaps she would have -bid him good-bye more kindly. - -As he thought of the once cheery little comrade who in former days -had been wont to accompany him downstairs, the chilly aloofness of -her struck Chris to the heart, though what of Gay, who was already in -her own room, weeping passionately, when the slam of the hall-door -came? - -"If his mother could see me," she thought, and almost looked round -for invisible whips. - -In the train Chris recalled his quiet chat with Rensslaer before -leaving Elsinore, the latter having thrown out a word of inquiry as -to his future plans, and Chris had lightly sketched his autumn -programme--a sufficiently full one. - -Rensslaer had listened with attention, then said: - -"There's no money to be made at racing as you practice it--the -surroundings are not healthy, either morally or physically--there is -too much excitement, too much bodily waste. It may wreck your -manhood in the long run--you weigh a couple of stone less than you -ought--and"--Rensslaer hesitated--"it's not fair to Miss Gay." - -"It's my very life, sir," cried Chris warmly. - -"In short," said Rensslaer, and smiled, "Bagehot knew what he was -talking about, when he said that the 'natural impulse of the English -people is to resist authority.' What you want is discipline." - -Chris uttered an exclamation, and his eyes flashed, for as he took no -liberty with others, so he allowed none to be taken with him, but -Rensslaer took no notice. - -"I am old enough to be your father," he said; "let me for once speak -to you as one. The fault of your character is not so much want of -purpose, as the need of one worthy of you--bend those talents which I -know you to possess to some definite object, and embark without -further delay on some worthy career. What you want is _work_, which -is the salt of existence; the pleasure you take in horses should be -for moments of relaxation--a refreshing pause to make your step all -the quicker, your mind all the more braced for the serious business -of life." - -"I shouldn't call the job of schooling and making horses exactly a -sinecure," said Chris coldly. "I have work enough and to spare, and -it is the work that I love." - -Rensslaer shook his head. - -"It is because you love it so well that it's play, and it leads -nowhere--except over broken hearts," he added in a lower tone, and -Chris winced. "Did you see what that German who has lived for thirty -years in England says about the deterioration in English character? -He speaks of that increasing section of our people, whose guiding -principle in life gives the lie to that strenuous rule of sturdy -self-denial, and initiative, on which our Empire was founded, and by -which alone it can be preserved." - -"I suppose no one will deny that there's plenty of self-denial in my -profession," said Chris drily. - -"As I said before, you do it for your own pleasure," said Rensslaer -gravely, "and to others' sorrow. Whether you merely kill, or only -mangle yourself, it's self-indulgence pure and simple. Discipline, -self-sacrifice for the State's sake, are the qualities that the -modern Englishman needs to cultivate. But I'm afraid that -selfishness, and an inordinate love of pleasure, with a corresponding -contempt for, and hatred of all that savours of restraint, are the -prevailing characteristics of the heirs to the most Imperial -inheritance that history has ever known." - -"And by the State," said Chris quietly, but inwardly furious at -having to import Gay's name into the discussion, "I presume you mean -Miss Lawless--to whom I am not doing my duty?" - -"Yes. Be my land-agent," said Rensslaer abruptly. "There will be a -lot of hard work about it, and you'll have to learn the business, but -on the other hand, you can have the pick of my stable for riding and -driving in the ordinary way--no 'schooling,' which is just as -dangerous as steeplechasing, but as much hunting as you choose. If -you would think a thousand a year sufficient--and there is a really -charming house on the estate that I feel sure Miss Gay would like--" - -"You take it for granted Miss Gay would care too," said Chris, the -thunder-cloud leaving his brow. "Thank you, sir. It's most awfully -good of you--and I know more on Miss Lawless's account than mine--but -it's an offer I can't possibly accept." - -Yet if Gay were not positively brutal to him nowadays (or so poor -Chris expressed it) he would have felt more remorse at throwing away -her happiness, and, his passion for horses notwithstanding, what his -better self told him was his happiness also. - -Deeply disappointed as his host was, he said no more, and that Chris -was so enthusiastic about him to Gay, showed that they had parted the -best of friends. Indeed, the boy's sunny good humour, the -incorrigible pluck and charm of him, the blending of heart and -breeding, and taste, of all those qualities, in short, that go to -make in the real sense of the word, a gentleman, had long ago -endeared him to Rensslaer, as to all others. - -But the spirit of perversity that had seized Chris when he last dined -at Connaught Square throve apace, and he made no effort to dislodge -it; whatever he did, or did not do, he could not please Gay. He had -deliberately talked shooting to her, that he might keep his tongue -off the raptures of admiration into which Rensslaer's stable had -plunged him, and that was wrong--like everything else. - -Well, if she wanted a lady-like fool, who took no risks, to play -round with--for thus he rudely designated Carlton--she had better -take him, and the sooner the better. Chris's usual good manners were -going by the board under the strain of mingled ill-health, and mental -irritation combined, and altogether he was in a very bad way indeed, -when on the day before the Horse Show, he went to see Aunt Lavinia, -whom he had somewhat neglected since his recovery. - -"Dear boy!" she exclaimed in delight as she got up from her -writing-table, "how nice you look, and how _lean_!"--for she could -not abide fat on a man--and she kissed him fondly. - -Chris's bright hair, his smile, and general smartness stood him in -excellent stead on all occasions when he wished to hide his real -feelings, but Lavinia knew him very well, and after some talk, and -the transference of a small cheque to her for her poor, the little -lady roundly taxed him with having something on his mind. - -"Too much money," said Chris, and chuckled. "Are you going to -Olympia? We have all been buying tickets on our own--Rensslaer, -Mackrell, Bulteel, and myself--and it seems to me, between us all, we -can live there the whole week if we like, with intervals for food and -sleep." - -"It's out of my line, Laddie," she said, "even if it did not mean a -new frock--which would make me miserable. But it will be a pretty -sight. Is it because you are not riding, you have the hump?" she -added, looking at him shrewdly. - -"Of course I should like it," said Chris, "but there are lots of -other fellows who will do it better, of course." - -"It seems to be a rule of life," she said, "that one can only be -happy at the cost of others' unhappiness--and your disappointment -probably means that Gay is happy." - -"I think it would take a lot to make her that nowadays," he said -drily. "But isn't it a pretty rotten world when such a state of -things prevails, that we are afraid to even admit that we are -happy--and rub a piece of wood to give our admission the lie?" - -"There are so many ways of happiness," she said, "but practically -only one of misery. There's self-control, Laddie"--she hesitated, -and glanced at the boy's handsome head, a little bent already in -anticipation of rebuke--"what is life, after all, but discipline?" - -Chris thought that Rensslaer, as well as Gay, must have been getting -at her, and turned restive--there seemed no comfort for him anywhere. - -"Why don't you say all this to Mackrell? He deserves it quite as -much as I do. He never does anything but what he likes; he doesn't -even break his bones." - -"Ah, my boy," she said sadly, "it is only these we love, that we take -trouble about, and there's sterner, deeper stuff in you than poor -Carlton; besides, Gay loves you, not him." - -Chris walked to the window, and stood for a while, looking out. - -"Dear Laddie," said Lavinia softly, "you are fighting for prizes that -when obtained are utterly valueless, for victories more fatal than -the most inglorious defeats, and all because you have not the -strength of mind to break away, to assert your will-power. Nothing -in this world can remain stationary--if you are not improving, you -are going back--and don't you suppose that she knows it? For there -is no death," she added softly; "she is living, but not here--is -listening to us at this moment, for all we know." - -"She always hated my riding," he said, and in those painful, -heart-searching moments, realised that often the real influence of an -unselfish life does not begin till it is over. - -Lavinia said not one word, only looked at him with the dear blue eyes -in which life, its sins, its virtues, its passions had been -transmuted into a pure and utterly comprehending humanity, and at -something in his face, not so much unyielding as unconquerable, -because quite beyond his control, she sighed deeply. She had seen -the struggle so often, and it had always ended in the one way. - -There rang in her ears Gay's cry the day before, - -"Oh! why is it that we love best those who have never done _anything_ -for us--have even cost us much sorrow--and are cruel and ungrateful -to those who have sacrificed themselves for us--as Carlton has for -me?" - -Lavinia knew that Gay was in a dangerous mood, and in a moment of -impulse and anger against Chris's selfishness, might wreck her own, -and two men's lives. She had a temper, and a will of her own, and a -generous heart also, that could not fail to appreciate a delicacy -that with Carlton was as great as his devotion. Yet Chris did not -look the sort of lover that any girl would turn her back on, when he -kissed Lavinia and departed. - -"When the Horse Show is over," he said to himself, with a sense of -relief at the postponement of the struggle, then he would fight out -the burning question of which he could best live -without--steeplechasing or Gay. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE EPIC OF THE HORSE - -Rensslaer had taken half-a-dozen tickets for the Royal day, and any -special shows that he thought would appeal to Gay. Tom Bulteel had -liberally provided for the Harness classes, Carlton had concentrated -on the Trotting, Chris on the jumping, which came last in the -evening, so that the united tickets practically covered everything -worth seeing at Olympia. - -The little party, Gay, Effie, and Tom Bulteel (save when the latter -were at Epsom), Lossie, Chris, and Carlton, took the Show easily, -like a picnic, saw most of the good things, and missed those not so -good, though when the jumping was on, Chris remained glued to his -seat, deaf, blind, and oblivious to all around him, save what was -passing in the arena. - -The Professor had been invited, but declined--to the immense relief -of everybody, as his squeals might have astounded the neighbours -during the high jumping. Gay found it delightful not to have to be -told after squeezing in (as happened to many other of her friends), -that their cards admitted them to the building only, and seats must -be booked inside, of which there were none to be booked. - -The stables amused her immensely. She thought it must have -astonished the cart horses to find themselves ensconced between -draperies of crimson and gold, others in a delicate shade of pearly -blue, with huge baskets of flowers floating over their heads, or in -bowers of hothouse blooms, and upholstered in green and white--the -whole scheme changed to a royal blue on the day of the King's visit. -The woodwork of Rensslaer's boxes was plainly but handsomely covered -in cloth, while each horse's name and its record appeared over its -stall in an ornamental gilt frame. - -Several of the Continental army officers in their bright uniforms -strolled between the arena and the stables, chatting and keeping an -eye on their splendid mounts, and Gay noted approvingly that these -men seemed to be the personal friends of their horses. The tall, -clean-limbed animals, although they treated the stablemen with -contempt, pricked up their ears, and thrust their proudly-poised -heads over the stall doors, every time one of the well-known uniforms -came near. - -It was a quaint sight to see the women in their delicate summer gowns -walking past the stalls over the dusty asphalt floors, and peering -into the horse-boxes, for an extraordinary number of women were -present, every one of whom had apparently put on her costliest -clothes for the occasion. - -The fact that the Epsom Meeting was not over, appeared to have no -effect on the attendance, for faces well-known in the world of sport -were to be seen--it was an "indoor Ascot"--Ascot Cup Day so far as -the dresses were concerned, mingled with the paddock on Derby Day, -with its multiplicity of languages--Ascot with magnificent horses, -and instead of racing on the flat, jumping, trotting, and tandem -driving. - -The gowns showed fairly well in the Ambassadors and other boxes, but -Lossie justly complained that it was like a too dense wood, where you -can't admire the foliage for the trees, and that every woman requires -a special clearing to herself to be shown off properly, which she -certainly had not here. - -Yet Lossie herself easily made her presence felt in the immediate -vicinity, and drew many an envious glance on her exquisite harmony in -blue, and bluer eyes, though Gay's frock of white worked muslin, with -a great cluster of crimson roses at her girlish breast, appealed to -both Carlton and Chris far more. - -But as usual in the quartette made by the young people, it was to -Lossie that Carlton fell, and very content and lovely the girl looked -as she sat beside him, while on his part, he did not find it -difficult to make himself pleasant to her, even if Gay apparently had -forgotten her quarrel with Chris, laughed, and was happy. The two -criticised everything, and discussed with zest the charming _coup -d'œil_ presented, which was vivid, and full of interest, life and -colour. - -Overhead, the rays of the sun streamed through the glass roof, and -were caught by the festoons and panels, ornamented with the flags and -heraldry that emphasised the international nature of the show; roses -in long, drooping curves connected the chief parts of the -ornamentation, so that there was not one bare, unsightly piece of -woodwork in all the vast building to offend the eye, and beneath, the -Belgian landscape gardeners had worked marvels, creating a veritable -fairyland of delight. - -May trees in full blossom, a fresh green lawn, flower-beds, shrubs, -everything possible to banish the show-ring, if scarcely to suggest -the paddock or hunting-field, had been done, and beyond a ring banked -with marguerites and scarlet geraniums, rose row upon row, English, -French, Belgian, and American women, tiny splashes of colour that -mostly represented the hopes and fears, impending pride or -disappointment in the horsemen who competed for their countries' -honour. - -The pink hunting-coats or uniforms of the riders, the picturesque -dress of the attendants, and the sleek, shining horses, all blended -into a picture perfectly harmonious in tone, while the black coats of -the little group of tall, well-bred men in the arena who acted as -judges, somehow struck a note of distinction in the midst of the -uniforms, and the gay kaleidoscopic surroundings. - -Horse shows in England are apt to be too leisurely -entertainments--this was too rapid for many spectators, for the -expedition with which everything was carried out in the ring, was a -revelation in expert management. Seeing that in one jumping class -there were a hundred and twenty entries, it was clear that only by -the full-tilt methods of the old tournament, could the events be -carried through in time, so when one competition was over, a blast on -the coach-horn, and, hey presto! the great doors at the end of the -hall flew open, and in swept the next competitors, and jumping or -other apparatus vanished as if by magic. There was a neatness and -despatch about the whole affair that made the show go as quickly as a -well-arranged theatrical performance, though the noise caused by the -joint efforts of Lord Lonsdale's band, and the liveried youth in the -ring occasionally provoked some amusement. - -The vivacity of the scene was undeniable, but Gay, like many others, -experienced the greatest difficulty in identifying any particular -competition when two or more classes were in the ring, and when -afterwards she tried to remember the right sequence of the things -that most delighted her, she was not able to, so rapidly had they -succeeded each other. She remembered vividly Rensslaer's beautiful -little Peter and Mary, under eleven hands, and to her one of the -prettiest sights was when a tiny Shetland pony only seventeen inches -high, took a prize in a class with big horses, quality, not quantity, -winning, the attendant having to kneel down to pin the rosette on the -tiny creature. - -The tandem teams that moved like clockwork delighted her, and she -shared Chris's admiration for the Stansfield Cottin Battak ponies, -that bred in Sumatra, with handsome heads set on high-crested necks, -full of spirit, and simply balls of muscle, had all the fire and -beauty conferred by the Arab strain, together with the hardness and -endurance of the Battak breed, the description "miniature Arabs, with -more bone than their ancestors" fitting them exactly. - -She loved the magnificent team of Suffolk Punches that appeared -precisely as they do in the field, in harness adopted from all time -by Suffolk agriculturists, drawing an old-fashioned Suffolk wagon, -while the fact that they were led by men in smock frocks instead of -being driven, and thus perfectly in character, and representative of -"Old England," appealed strongly to the public, who cheered them to -the echo. - -With perfect simplicity the Suffolk farm hands demonstrated how heavy -horses harnessed in twos, may be made to wheel in mazy figures by -just talking to them. In true old country style, the man walking -beside the leading animal, shouted in broad Suffolk his commands to -him, "t'other waa," and "th' iver waa" (my way), the man walking -beside the third horse repeating the commands, and at every order, -round came the four in perfect style, not a hand on their harness to -steady or lead them, wheeling their great wagon in wonderful -evolutions, amid thunders of applause that would not be silenced. - -From the horse-lover's point of view, the horses for mail and other -phaetons was a noteworthy event, and closely watched by Tom Bulteel. - -A most stirring competition of the nation was seen in the pairs. Mr. -Vanderbilt entered three teams; Rensslaer drove his own horses, and -the French appointments, for which 50 per cent. of the marks are -given, were extremely smart. Such a show of pairs, or anything like -it, had never been collected in any ring; indeed, said the experts, -never had so perfect a class been brought together, and the work of -the judges was herculean. The excitement was intense as the -twenty-two were reduced to a select eight, including two of -Rensslaer's, two of Mr. Vanderbilt's, and one of Mr. Bates'. - -Lossie ever after viewed Rensslaer with more respect as the owner of -the superb pair of carriage horses, named after a couple of popular -sporting peers, that never appeared without creating a furore of -admiration--she would above all things have liked them for her own, -and Carlton to sit with her behind them. - -He on his part viewed them with indifference, but gave unstinted -praise to the class for American Trotters with records of 2.30 or -better; fleet as Atlanta, slenderly beautiful as greyhounds, they -were a revelation to him of what a horse could look and be, and he -and Gay laughed heartily as they compared them with the quadrupeds -that in all seriousness they had called Trotters, and he understood -better now Rensslaer's prejudice against the sport as practised in -England. - -"By Jove!" exclaimed Chris, "he _can_ drive!" as Rensslaer, for some -time last of the competitors, crept up to the front, Storm Cloud -beating them by the way he went round the very small turns at top -speed, passing Sensation, and thus forcing the other to a break, and -afterwards, when he had won, being driven round at full speed with -his checker-rein, and over-draw bit taken off, so as to show what -manners he had. - -This was the same horse that displayed great speed in a pair in the -parade before the King, being the only pair capable of taking their -turns fast. - -Yes, Gay decided _that_ was her favourite day, when the sweetest and -loveliest lady in all the land, sat with the King in the Royal box, -and frankly showed her love for horses by the delight she evinced in -their performances, and the frequent applause she gave them, laughing -as heartily as Gay did, at the humours of the donkeys in the coster's -show. - -As if in answer to Tom Bulteel's pertinent remark that the saddle -classes could not be satisfactorily judged, unless the judges took a -turn in the saddle, one of them, himself a consummate horseman, rode -the chargers in turn to judge of their capacities, and the public -applauded loudly when he mounted Rensslaer's bay roan gelding, a -charger so perfectly trained in the pretty action and deportment of -the _Haute École_, that it performed a step-dance with all the -precision possible in a creature with four legs. - -Gay declared that horses, like children, have an inborn tendency to -dance to the sound of music--_not_ horses trained to the _Haute -École_ either--and that in their grace and tapering limbs, they made -her think of some exquisite exponents of the ballet, as compared with -the unwieldy bodies and heavy legs of ordinary clumsy human beings. - -It interested Gay to watch these men, the keenest judges of -horse-flesh, and riding and driving in the world, who chatted -quietly, nodded appreciatively now and then, criticised, admired, -condemned, evincing no concern when a frightened horse scattered them -to right and left. She was greatly amused at a big, striding bay -horse named "Teetotaler" that, though built on galloping lines, -proved himself inferior to "Whisky," who made short work of his -opponent in the 15 stone class; then there was a Belgian horse named -"Timber-topper" that thoroughly lived up to his name. - -Tom Bulteel found much to admire in the horse and gig class, a purely -American affair, that being rather a novelty in this country, was -greatly approved, but laughed heartily when, in a four-in-hand class, -the coachman had to have assistance to turn his leaders in the ring. -He naturally took keen interest in the park teams, which, supported -by the Four-in-hand and Coaching Clubs, by private individuals and -professionals, ensured the judging being watched with the closest -attention. Then there were Mr. Vanderbilt's famous team of greys, -which he drove himself, though it was only by a shade that he wrested -the prize from the well-known browns of the Old Brighton Coach--an -English turn-out that gradually absorbed most of the audience's -attention, and whose driver, though he lost the blue rosette, was -greeted with loud and prolonged applause. - -"Where is your motor-car now?" cried Gay triumphantly to Lossie. -"Talk of a chauffeur indeed--as if his finest, most daring and -sustained feat, could rival the sympathetic dexterity shown a hundred -times here by English and American whips!" - -"Just as no rivalry between mechanical contrivances can hold a candle -to the struggle among the field of beautiful high-bred horses, -sweeping over the turf towards the winning-post," said Chris, "for in -the mechanical contrivance, the driver is the only sentient element, -in horse-racing there is both horse and jockey to reckon with, and -the animal enters into the spirit of the contest just as keenly as -his rider." - -Inconsistent Gay frowned, and turned her head away, devoting herself -to Tom Bulteel, who did not want her. He was intently watching the -class for a quick change of four-in-hands, marks being given for the -speed and swiftness with which the harnessing and unharnessing was -managed, as well as for the eight horses and the horsemanship, and -some extraordinarily smart work was being done, which he fully -appreciated. - -Effie, watching the game, sighed, for Gay's spirits and temper varied -with every succeeding hour, the "class" witnessed, being the -barometer by which her emotions were set. When there was only -driving, and Chris's attention entirely given to her, she sparkled, -and was happy; when jumping was on, and he became absolutely -engrossed in his favourite passion, leaning forward, his soul in his -eyes, and his eyes where his body panted to be, Gay existed no more -for him than that vast circle of spectators of which he formed a -part, and her brightness was eclipsed. Then Carlton scored--he had -not watched Gay and her attitude towards Chris during the progress of -the Show for nothing, and each day saw his hopes rise higher, -Lossie's fell. - -To Effie, who was a shrewd observer, this was something more than a -great Horse Show, it was the picturesque _mise en scène_ for the -playing out of the comedy (or tragedy) of four lives, and of which -she, and unhappy Lossie clearly foresaw the end.... Chris and wilful -Gay were throwing away their happiness with both hands, and much as -she loved them both, she was powerless to prevent it. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -LOVE OR STEEPLECHASING? - -Chris's enjoyment reached perhaps its culminating point in the -round-the-course jumping competition, that took the place of the high -jump--a real good, stiff and varied steeplechase. He noted keenly -the solidity of the obstacles--post and rails, park-palings, high -park gates, and push-over gate, a Suffolk "squeeze," with a barrier -of high hedges and thorns; a bank, both abrupt and sloping; a -Leicestershire bullfinch, and the novelty of the Continental triple -bar, consisting of three high bamboo bars on movable trestles. - -These could be arranged at any required distance from one another, -which meant that the horses had to clear a good 20 feet. Then there -was the celebrated sheep-pen jump, in which the rider had to leap -into the pen, and out on the other side, the finish and most -difficult feat being the bank, which was a turfed embankment of five -feet high, the horse having to leap, not over it, but on top of it, -and descend the slope on the other side. - -The bringing in of the fences was in itself stirring. White-wigged -postilions of the old style, rode in pairs of grey horses harnessed -to capacious wagons, and in a few minutes all was complete. - -Decidedly the drama of the exhibition was the jumping, while the -riding of the foreign cavalry officers, who had not before been seen -in England, was one of the sensations, for there are no finer -horsemen in the world, unless from among the Cossacks and the -cowboys, and their talents are especially distinguished in taking the -banks and big, stiff fences at full speed. - -Through the heavy wooden and iron doors there trotted in one by one, -French, Belgian, American, and Spanish horsemen, who were to teach -the English how to high-jump, over forty coming to the post, their -brilliant uniforms adding the last touch of colour to the scene. - -The first horse touched the triple bar, but otherwise did a perfect -course, though at the five feet bank which finishes the latter, he -slid along the platform prone, and on all fours, and, like many of -the English horses, could scarcely recover his legs. - -It was a remarkable sight to see the string of horses take the gates, -bars, bushes, and fences in the glare of thousands of electric -lights; the row of wooden posts was an ugly jump always. The -terrible triple-bar, most risky of all the Continental jumps, now -introduced to English horsemen for the first time, was constantly -crashing down, amid half-sustained shrieks from the women in the -audience, as the riders were thrown, or jerked on the necks of their -steeds, and it was here that all the British officers came to grief, -though they took their fences with the abandon and dash of a quick -burst in the shires. Indeed their riding was remarkably clever and -plucky, considering that they had never before been through such a -performance, and were all riding green horses. The latter broke into -a gallop as they approached the sloping bank, with a deep and abrupt -fall on the far side, swinging sharply to the left, and took at -tremendous speed the circle of jumps, each distinct from the rest, -then finished down the middle, taking this time, not the slope, but -the wall of the bank, and so disappeared through the gates into the -stables. - -All the other obstacles fell when the horse collided with them, but, -as one of the competitors remarked, "There's no give in that bank," -and it was here that nearly all of the mishaps occurred. A -Lifeguardsman went at the bank as if he were charging an army, but -the horse sprang short, and his rider was shot high over his head. -He turned a complete somersault, and fell on his back on the top of -the bank; the horse followed, and appeared to jump on the prostrate -rider. Ring attendants and judges ran towards him, but the -lieutenant picked himself up smartly--he had not released his hold of -the reins--and mounting the hunter on the top of the bank, rode it -down the slope, and out of the arena, amid enthusiastic plaudits for -his pluck. - -England was not alone in the matter of mishaps. One of the 2nd -Chausseurs à Cheval, of the Belgian Army, although a splendid -steeplechase rider, also fell at the bank. He went round the course -at a smart gallop, and cleared everything without registering a -touch. His beautiful bay gelding went at the bank at full speed, but -appeared to make no attempt to rise at it--the animal's chest struck -the vertical side of the embankment, his rider shot into the air, and -he too fell on his back. The lieutenant landed on top of the bank, -and the horse remained below. - -A mettlesome bay mare from Belgium, ridden by an officer who wore the -gorgeous uniform of the 2nd Belgian Lancers, refused the first -obstacle, and ran round it; refused the second, and dashed among the -judges, scattering them right and left. After five minutes' display -of temper all over the arena, she was ordered out, and eventually, -with some persuasion, went, having jumped nothing but the judges' -table. - -Many of the horses had never jumped inside a building before, and -used to the open showyard, were made nervous, almost frantic, by the -colours, the music, the people, and the general strangeness of the -surroundings, intensified by the glare of the electric light, and the -unfortunate illumination of the trees. So greatly were the nerves of -some of the best-known leapers affected, that often the judges and -messenger boys were sent scurrying when a nervous horse refused his -jump, and careered at full speed round the ring. - -So for an hour, in quick succession, followed each other the best -horses and horsemen of Europe--some conspicuous for a close, -immovable, jockey-like seat, the English hunters for dash, and the -Belgians for coolness and neatness. The difference in the way the -men of foreign nationalities sat their horses, keenly interested -Chris, for they did so, if not as gracefully, at least more -effectively than the average English rider in a jumping competition. -Some of them began, continued, and finished the course crisply, and -at high speed, with an unmoved seat, even when heavy men. He noted -that the foreigner rides with long stirrups, and more by balance than -the Englishman, though there was one exception, his stirrups were as -short as a jockey's, his knees crooked high, and pressed very -tight--so steady and sympathetic a seat Chris had seldom seen. - -No one could help admiring the Belgian officer's riding, how he never -touches his horse's mouth, but sits as if he were part of the horse, -even if it jumped a little slowly, or "stickily," as we should say. -More than once, delightful instances of the kindness of these -officers to their horses were given. When a fence was refused, no -rough words were used, or resentment shown--a pat of the neck, an -encouraging whisper, and the horse tried again, succeeded, and seemed -even happier in his success than his gentle master. - -One of the most interesting figures in the jumping competitions, the -champion jump rider of Belgium, appeared in a finely-fitting uniform, -with black coat, and blue riding breeches. A lithe figure with the -moustachios of the Continental officer, he had a perfect seat, and -took the jumps, and rode his horse at top speed at the high jump -instead of at a canter, as is usually thought necessary for high -jumping. Chris was also keen to observe how the horses threw up -their heels with a curious sharp jerk, or wriggle, when in the act of -topping an obstacle, the result of their being trained to clear bars -which are slightly raised as they take their leap. - -After all, thought Gay, it was very like steeplechasing, with the -sinister ambulance and perfect medical arrangements in the background -... that was why it interested Chris to the exclusion of herself.... -She watched his face closely, as the reckless boy she had seen at -Elsinore, time after time appeared, and after more than one crushing -fall, limped from the arena, only to reappear, indomitable as ever, -and going at the stiffest obstacles with an unconcern that Chris -himself could not have beaten. Both rode for the sheer zest and love -of it, both counted accidents as mere incidents that did not -seriously interfere with their pleasure; yes--they would have made a -pair of dare-devils to ride against each other, and there was keen -envy in Chris's eyes as he watched the other. - -The only round without a mistake was to the credit of Belgium and -Holland, and though a famous Dorset yeoman rode the fastest, and one -of the most faultless courses on a superb horse, undoubtedly the -honours were with the foreigners. They must have got quite a wrong -impression of our hunters ridden by officers, for whether it were -that the horses were unaccustomed to the scene, or that the riders -felt awkward, and communicated their nervousness to their horses, -they gave a very different account of themselves to what they would -do any day in a cross-country run. - -"Just fancy that out of us all, there is only one Englishman who can -compete with our visitors!" exclaimed Gay ruefully to Rensslaer, who -had joined them towards the close of the steeplechase competition. - -"And what can you expect?" he said quietly. "A young horse-owner in -this country either hunts or plays polo, or both, but he never -troubles himself with showing horses, except occasionally at the -semi-private shows of Ranelagh and Hurlingham. You see, the English -no longer regard horsemanship as a national sport--the foreigners do; -we are all wrong in that respect." - -"There's far more of the circus than of legitimate sport about the -sort of thing we have just seen," said Tom Bulteel; "in short, it -doesn't appeal to the hunting man at all. Who wants the high jump, -or the wide jump for horses? English jumping is practically confined -to the hunting field, and the steeplechase course, and all the best -hunters, if well ridden, can be taught to cross all reasonable -country, while the 'chasers' are schooled to jump what is known as -the regulation course." - -"Hear, hear!" cried Effie, and Tom went on warmly. - -"This high jumping is a trick--and the horses who do it, mustn't on -any account be hunted, or they lose the knack of flinging themselves -over a high bar--and personally I prefer a clever hunter. In fact, -the so-called champion hunter class is a misnomer, and putting the -qualified hunter classes in the evening is a huge mistake. Of course -a hunter ought to be able to jump these fences, as far as height or -width are concerned, but it's no part of a hunter's business to jump -over white fences under the glare of electric light." - -"All the same," said Rensslaer, "I confess that I should like to see -the Army devoting itself to the art, as the Italian Army does, and it -would be to the good if private and public schools provided ponies, -and taught the young idea how to ride, as well as how to shoot. A -troop of boy rough-riders would be a lively accompaniment to the -corps of sharp-shooters multiplying under Lord Roberts' organisation. -The Army here, in buying horses, demands from the farmer horses -already highly trained, which is obviously impossible. How different -the behaviour of the Italians and the Belgians! The horses they ride -are almost exclusively Irish. The dealers resident in Ireland are -continually shipping young Irish horses, which go straight to the -colonels of the several regiments, who get them trained; the officers -buy and train their private horses in a similar way, and regard the -education of a horse as one of, if not quite, the best of sports." - -"Anyway," grunted Tom Bulteel, "if England has something to learn -from Continental rivals in methods of training, we may find -consolation in the fact that it is from British equine flesh, bone, -and blood that competitors abroad have been able to produce the -splendid animals that are winning the judges' encomiums to-day. -Their clean action in harness, and over the sticks betrays their -British origin, whatever may be the nationality of their owners." - -"Bravo, Tom!" cried Effie, and slipped her little hand in his. - -"And so I repeat," said Torn sturdily, "that it is not fair to judge -us in a place ringing with noisy demonstrations, that are dead -against a high-class hunter giving his best form. The foreign or -American show hunter is used to such conditions, and the consequence -is, that many a moderate horse gets forward simply on account of his -jumping abilities. Far too much importance is attached to what is -after all trick jumping, and, as I said before, it is by no means -necessary in a hunter." - -And so with ups and downs, principally downs with Gay--and her face -as she sat ignored at Chris's side told more than she knew--the time -passed, and the last and "championship" night of the great show -arrived. - -It was a scene of extraordinary brilliancy, and even more than the -rest of the spectators, Chris was wrought to the highest pitch of -excitement during the high-jumping contest at the close of the -evening, when gradually twenty-two horses were fined down to two--the -one ridden by the Dorset yeoman, the other by Belgium's champion jump -rider, who had acquitted himself so grandly throughout. - -When Lord Lonsdale offered a prize to whichever could clear 7 feet, -and the Belgian's horse came along like lightning, and with a mighty -spring into the air, cleared the obstacle with an inch or two to -spare, Chris felt the blood course like warm milk through his -veins--in fancy he rose to the jump, and the ecstacy, the oneness of -horse and man in those moments, were his. - -The Englishman put his horse at the bar, failing at the first -attempt, but succeeding at the second, going over beautifully. They -both cleared 6 feet 9 inches, but neither succeeded at 7 feet, and -were declared tied, the prize being divided, and the two horses -parading round the ring amid a scene of the greatest enthusiasm. -Suddenly Chris turned--in that moment of expansion, he wanted Gay to -share it with him, but she was not there. She and the others had -slipped away without his noticing; no doubt they had all gone down to -the stables, and he rose eagerly to follow them. - -He wanted to congratulate Rensslaer on his triumphs, to tell him that -he accepted his offer of St. Swithin's, and if he got no opportunity -of speaking to her to-night, next morning he would call on dear -little Gay and tell her that his love for her had triumphed. If she -had only known it, Chris was proving his right to the title of hero, -for this was his real farewell to the sport he so intensely loved--if -he had seemed to neglect Gay, when she knew the reason, she would -forgive him.... - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -TOO LATE! - -Rensslaer appeared immediately after breakfast next morning in -Connaught Square, and Gay, warmly congratulating him on his -victories, heard that the result of the great show worked out in -cups, championships, and prizes in the following order: - - England, 16 cups & championships, 91 1st prizes. - U. States 2 " " 14 " - France -- " " 1 " - Belgium -- " " 1 " - Holland 1 " " -- " - Canada -- " " 2 " - - -"And everyone thought the Belgian champions were going to sweep the -board!" cried Gay. "After all, the foreigner by no means had it all -his own way, for of the three champion cups awarded, two were secured -by a Kentish man, the third going to America." - -"It was a good show," said Rensslaer, looking very pleased, as well -he might, but, though Gay did not know it, more on her account than -his own; it was not to rejoice over his own triumphs, but to share -_her_ happiness that he had called thus early. But as she gave no -sign, he offered no congratulations, and they chatted about the Show -for awhile, agreeing that the keenest competitions, both from the -international aspect, and that of individual merit, were undoubtedly -the high jump, and the four-in-hands, and he told her that they hoped -to persuade the Italians to come over to the next Horse Show, adding -that they were the finest riders in the world. - -Gay nodded. - -"Captain Bulteel says that never before have so many high-class -animals been on show in this or any other country. You must be -awfully proud, Mr. Rensslaer. You were certainly one of the most -popular of the exhibitors, and your successes were cheered to the -echo." - -"I will venture to offer you the pick of my horses for your wedding -present," he said, and Gay coloured brilliantly; how on earth could -he know already of her engagement? - -"I am very glad," he said warmly, and got up and went over to her, -kissing her little hand so beautifully that she felt sure he _had_ -often done it before. - -"He is the best fellow in the world," said Rensslaer. "I never saw -two people more exactly suited to each other. His giving up what is -really a passion with him, is a proof not only of his great love for -you, but a moral victory, revealing the real strength of his -character." - -"Oh, he never really cared for it," said Gay in some surprise, "and -you see he had to give it up, whether he liked it or not." - -Rensslaer was silent, a little chilled and disappointed. Surely this -was not the Gay that he thought he knew.... - -"I think you will like the house," he said. "It is very quaint and -old--some distance from Elsinore, but within the park--" - -Gay looked at him, astonished. - -"Has he spoken to you already about a new country place?" she said. -"Carlton has several, you know, but no house in town. - -"_Carlton?_" - -"Why, who else are we talking about?" exclaimed Gay in astonishment, -but she had gone rather pale. - -"Of Chris Hannen, of course." - -"Why of course?" - -Gay's brows were raised; some of the hot anger that burned in her -against Chris overnight, burned still. - -"Because you love him," said Rensslaer quietly. - -"Love him? Love a man who doesn't even see me if a horse is -around--who is deaf, dumb as a stock-fish, blind to everything save -an animal that can jump?" - -Unconsciously Gay had put up two distracted hands to her face in the -precise attitude of Rensslaer's "Little Mermaid," but it was -indignation, not grief, that distorted her features. - -"What has the boy done?" inquired Rensslaer in astonishment. - -"Done? All the passion that is _in_ him goes into horses--and where -do _I_ come in? Better a thousand times Carlton Mackrell's devotion! -Oh, he wasn't afraid to sacrifice himself for my pleasure! There's a -grain of romance in him somewhere, to do what he did--and Chris -without a qualm, sacrifices _me_." - -"But does he?" said Rensslaer, getting up from his chair, and -walking, more perturbed than Gay had ever seen him, about the room. - -"_Does_ he?" said Gay witheringly. "Oh, it was bad enough right -through the Show--there was thunder in the air all along--but things -came to a head last night with the high jump competition." She -paused to smile ruefully as the suitability of her comparison struck -her. "He forgot my very existence--didn't even _hear_ when I spoke -to him!" - -Rensslaer shook his head, tried to get in a word edgeways, but -failed; Gay was wound up, and meant to go on. - -"Oh, I can speak to you!" she cried passionately. "You will -understand, as some men can't, how last night in a sudden revulsion -of feeling, I turned from selfish Chris to devoted Carlton, who was -looking at me, thinking of me only, as always--he had never presented -his little bill--well, I would honour it to the full, even before it -was presented. If Chris had looked at me then ... but he did not. -When I got up, and we went out to the stables, it was all over -really, and outside one of those preposterous chiffon stalls Carlton -asked me, and I said--'Yes.'" - -"It's all right," said Rensslaer consolingly, "only you said 'Yes' to -the wrong man. Now, if you had waited a little longer--" - -"A little longer! Hasn't this Horse Show been going on for a week, -and has Chris Hannen had one thought, one word, when jumping was on, -for me?" - -"He was charming to you whenever I saw you," said Rensslaer. "You -seemed completely happy together, and admirably well suited, as -always." - -"So we are--were, I mean," said Gay. - -"And I think St. Swithin's, with congenial work among my horses, -would have suited Mr. Hannen very well," said Rensslaer quietly. "No -steeplechasing, of course--that was in the bond--but plenty of -legitimate riding." - -"I don't understand," faltered Gay, but all the same she was -beginning to do so, to realise what her mad fit of temper had cost -her. - -"He couldn't help being interested in the jumping right through--he -has never seen anything like it before--and he rides magnificently -himself--I believe could have done anything the others did. -Naturally he didn't want to miss a single point of horsemanship, or -any foreign wrinkle--and can you blame him? He was watching others -do what he knew he would never have the chance to do--what he longed -intensely to do only he loved you more." - -"More?" said Gay faintly, and into the young face that he had first -seen so careless and happy, came a look of misery that pierced -Rensslaer's tender heart. - -"Yes. I offered him a thousand a year, and a house at Elsinore, on -condition he gave up steeplechasing, and he came to me last night -after the Show, and said he accepted my offer, and was coming this -morning to tell you, and ask you to marry him. You had left, or I -feel sure he would have asked you then." - -"Oh, poor Chris!" breathed the girl, her arms falling to her sides, -her grey eyes looking straight before her. - -"No--poor Mackrell," said Rensslaer quietly, "for you will be doing -him a great wrong if you marry him, loving the other man as you do. -And I don't wonder"--he smiled--"for Chris Hannen is the nicest boy I -ever knew. Tell Mackrell it's all a mistake, and as a man of honour -he must at once release you." - -"I never break my word," said Gay. "A pretty rotten sportswoman I -should be if I did. If Chris came straight to me on leaving -Elsinore, and talked of nothing but your shooting, without saying a -word of the splendid chance you had given him, he deserves to suffer -for such criminal carelessness as regards his own welfare, and my -happiness--" - -"He will," said Rensslaer drily--"so will you, for I'm afraid the -aimless sort of existence Mackrell lives, won't appeal to you at all, -unless you live abroad, and he goes in seriously for Trotting." - -"As if I would leave Frank like that!" cried Gay indignantly. "Of -course it will be a long engagement--years and years!" - -Rensslaer smiled. In that case Chris, who was no laggard in anything -he undertook, might be trusted to readjust the position, but that -there would be a stiff tussle over the girl there was no manner of -doubt. - -She looked worth any man's love in the short skirt, striped cambric -shirt, and mannish tie that she affected of mornings, her eyes full -of battle, and her heart of trouble. Then she made a great effort, -and pulled herself together. - -"I am very selfish," she said, "and have not half congratulated you -on all your successes. It was very very wonderful, of course, but -I'd rather have that afternoon at Elsinore over again--the peace, the -loveliness--I was thinking of it the whole time at Olympia." - -"It is waiting for you," said Rensslaer quietly, "and as often as you -like, when you come to live at St. Swithin's Court--" - -Gay turned aside, to hide the tears that rushed to her eyes at the -thought of all she had thrown away, and at that moment the door -opened to admit Lossie, who was deathly pale, waiting with -ill-disguised impatience for Rensslaer to make his farewells, and -depart. Left together, the two girls faced each other, but it was -Lossie who spoke first. - -"It isn't true?" - -"What is not true?" - -"That Carlton asked you last night, that you said 'Yes'--Oh! I saw -it in his eyes--in yours--" - -"It is true." - -"Oh, my God!" cried Lossie, and beat her hands together. "You are -doing a great wrong to yourself and Chris--ruining your own life, and -breaking two men's hearts--you and Carlton are utterly unsuited to -each other--and all for a bit of temper--because Chris paid more -attention to the horses at the Show, than he did to you!" - -"Well, it's done," said Gay, voice and eyes dull, "and it can't be -undone." - -"But it can! Do you suppose Carlton will take what has been flung to -him in a moment of pique--like a bone to a dog? Doesn't he deserve -to be loved just as much--and more--than Chris does? Oh! he could -love a million times better--you have never troubled to sound the -depths of his heart--and you are committing a cruel wrong--a crime -even--if you go to him, knowing that you love Chris!" - -"Come to my den," said Gay sharply. "Carlton may be here at any -moment, and must not find us quarrelling over him," and she led the -way, followed hastily by a woman who had lost all regard for -appearances, and who in her godless selfishness recognised no rights -but those of her passions. - -"It is not a matter for your decision or mine," said Gay, when the -door was shut, "but for Carlton. If he holds me to my promise, I -shall keep it." - -"But you'll tell him that you love Chris?" cried Lossie eagerly. - -Gay shook her head. She was very angry with Chris, and his playing -the laggard that morning, was the finishing stroke to his utter -inconsiderateness and folly. She deeply resented his having spoken -to Rensslaer first, accepting his offer, and thereby taking it for -granted that she was ready to fall into his arms--Gay forgot that she -had given him no chance of doing so, as she had left the building -before the performance was over. - -With a sudden womanly comprehension, born of her own pain, she turned -to her cousin, no radiant apparition as of yesterday, but trembling, -haggard, dishevelled almost in her excitement and agony, yet more -beautiful than ever in that abandonment. - -"I wish he loved you, Lossie," cried Gay breathlessly. "I do wish it -with all my heart, and it is quite true what you say--that you are -much better suited to him than I am." - -"Give me the chance," cried Lossie, clasping her hands together in -desperate entreaty. "He can't know how I love, how I _adore_ him; if -he did, and that just as I love him, you love Chris, he couldn't help -loving _me_." - -"But I don't love Chris like that," protested Gay, shrinking a little -from this woman whose eyes, lips, voice were passion incarnate; -instinctively she knew that a man prefers to find most of the -vehemence himself.... - -A servant knocked at the door, and announced that Mr. Mackrell was in -the drawing-room, and the impulse, swift as a bird's homing flight, -that took Lossie half-way across the room to go to him, startled -Gay--just so would she have sped to Chris had all been well between -them--and had not love his rights; was not Rensslaer only but now -insisting on them? - -"Lossie," she said, "if you can convince Carlton that your love will -make him happier than my"--she hesitated--"affection can, go to him -now." - -But Lossie, turning even whiter, trembled, and shook her head. - -"I daren't," she said in a whisper, "it must come from you. He would -never forgive me--only if you were Chris's wife, I might have a -chance.... Oh, Gay, I've been a beast to you often, but you've had -all the luck, and I've had none"--she was like a passionate child -clamouring for the toy that she coveted, thought her cousin, it was a -bright, expensive toy that Gay did not want herself, she only wanted -her dear old rag doll, for so she at that moment absurdly designated -Chris. - -"Carlton must decide," she said, and went with lagging steps to the -drawing-room, where her lover very quickly _did_, for he stepped up -close, held her fast, and kissed her--kissed her like a man who had -long starved for that moment, and could not take enough. - -As she tore herself away, she could have wept to think that the first -kiss of her lips was not for Chris, and the contrast of Carlton, -supremely handsome and happy, with the girl she had just left, -revolted her. Her voice was strange as she said, - -"Will you go to my den? I will follow you there immediately," and -turned aside that he might not see her face. - -He coloured with disappointment and surprise, but of course there -would be greater privacy there... Without a word he went. - -As the door closed him in with Lossie, Chris came flying up the -stairs, taking three steps at a time, a young god in his swiftness, -strength and joy, bringing all the best gifts that life and love can -bring to the beloved woman--too late. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -A DEBT OF HONOUR - -It was not until Chris had caught Gay in those long, muscular arms of -his, and lifted her clean off her feet, only to find her fiercely -fighting his kisses, that he realised how completely his feelings had -run away with him, how he had taken everything for granted, and he -begged her forgiveness as he set her gently on the ground. - -"Had a bother in the stable--one of my horses gone clean off his -head," he said in his boyish way, "or I should have been here with -the morning milk. I've got grand news, darling, Rensslaer has given -me a berth and house at Elsinore--I'm giving up steeplechasing, and -we're going to be happy ever after!" - -"Are we?" she said; it did not sound like Gay's voice at all, and she -was rubbing her lips with a tiny pocket-handkerchief as if she were -trying to rub something out. - -"What is the matter?" said Chris, suddenly sobered. - -"Oh, nothing," cried Gay, reckless in her pain, "only that so far as -I am concerned, you are welcome to go on steeplechasing for -ever--it's no concern of mine." - -"Dear little girl," said Chris remorsefully, "I did neglect you -shamefully last night, but that wonderful jumping--you see those -jumps represented all the most ingenious obstacles invented by -Continental riders, and naturally it's intensely interesting to a man -who 'chases--even if he doesn't do it like them, over trick fences. -And then the riding," he burst out reminiscently, "such riding as you -don't get in a century of good riders, at any rate, all assembled at -the same time and place." - -"Oh, spare me!" cried Gay, so angrily that his face fell, and she -felt a brute as she saw how she had wiped all the brightness out of -it. - -"Anyway," he said pluckily, "we shall get plenty of hunting, -Rensslaer says, and a stiff run is almost as good as a steeplechase. -He has a horse that will carry you beautifully." - -"I shan't be there," cried Gay, and stamped her foot. "How dare you -take it for granted that I shall go where I have not even been asked?" - -"Well," said Chris wrathfully, "didn't I ask you at the Ffolliott's -dance--didn't I ask you again in this very room after my accident?" - -"No, you didn't," said Gay. "It was _I_ who said I'd give up -Trotting, if you would racing, and you wouldn't!" - -"But it was a perfectly understood thing," said Chris, "that if I -dropped steeplechasing, you would marry me, and I have--and what more -do you want?" - -"Nothing," said Gay point-plank. "While you've been -shilly-shallying, I've been making other plans--that's all." - -"You have certainly been a little wretch to me," said Chris gravely, -"and really, Gay, you must try to control your temper better, if we -are going to hit it when we're married." - -Gay gasped and sat down; so did Chris, though he kissed her first -before she knew it--how fearfully quick he was in everything--but -Carlton could be quick too.... She put her handkerchief away; she -did not want to rub out that last kiss.... - -"My dear little girl," said Chris, and his young face, very near -hers, was so handsome, and true, and tender, that she looked away -from it, while a dreadful ache came into her heart, "I am doing for -you what I would not for my mother, God bless her, and all we've got -to think about now, is to be happy--" He alone knew at what immense -cost to himself he had gained at last the victory, took it for -granted that Gay would appreciate, and reward it accordingly. - -"It's too late," she said miserably. "I am bound twice over to -Carlton--once by a debt of honour--once by my word--" - -"You are nothing of the sort," said Chris, who was far from realising -the situation. "Mackrell played up well certainly about the Vase, -but his motives were interested, and he'd be a rotter if he regarded -you as being in his debt. I don't wish the poor chap any harm, but -I'm afraid he'll have to put up with Lossie, unless she changes her -mind." - -"He--he is with Lossie just now," said Gay nervously, "but he may be -here at any moment--" - -"Not if he accepts her," said Chris, chuckling, "for I imagine -there's something in the wind." - -"Wouldn't you like to run down and see the Professor?" she cried -eagerly. "He's always so delighted to see you!" - -"I'm quite happy where I am," said Chris, smiling broadly. What a -shy little thing she was, and what ridiculous ideas she got into her -head; it was a relief to find she could be silly after all! "You are -looking very pretty this morning," and he looked her over admiringly. -Gay blushed--somehow she never _did_ look nice without wishing for -Chris to be there, and see how nice she looked. - -"I hear St. Swithin's Court is charming," he said--"the place where -we're going to live, you know--and the work Rensslaer's giving me -will suit me down to the ground. Just fancy _living_ in the midst of -that paradise of horses! And he's giving me a thousand a -year--rippin', ain't it?" and he kissed Gay again before she could -stop him. - -"Now, can't we be married early next month, go abroad for a bit, and -be home in good time for the shooting? Morning, Mackrell!" as that -gentleman came in, and Gay half rose, her heart beating wildly.... -With a sick sense of despair, after one glance at his face, she knew -that Lossie had failed. - -"We were just talking about St. Swithin's, the little place that goes -with the berth Rensslaer has given me," said Chris. "If the birds -are all right, we'll be very pleased if you'll make one of the guns -on the First--won't we, Gay?" - -There was a queer silence for a moment, then Carlton said quietly: - -"I'm afraid there's some mistake. Gay is engaged to me for the -First--and for many other Firsts, I hope." - -Chris's glance flashed from one to the other, even in that moment he -lived up to his motto, "Never show when you're hit," but his jaws -gritted together, as, with an upward jerk of his bright head, he said: - -"A very serious mistake, as Miss Lawless is engaged to me." - -Both men were standing, and at what Gay saw on their faces, she rose -also, and stood between them. - -"I am engaged to Carlton Mackrell," she said to Chris. "Will you -please go away now?" - -After one long look between her eyes, without a word Chris went, his -proud young face impassive as Rensslaer's Indian; yet Gay felt as if -there had been murder done, when the door closed, and involuntarily -she stretched out her arms towards it. - -"Oh, my God!" she whispered. "Come back, for I love you, Chris ... I -_love_ you." - -Carlton heard--but this scene was a mere anti-climax to the one he -had just gone through, and as he had held to his purpose in that one, -so was he resolute to hold to it in this, where so much more was at -stake.... - -Even if she loved Chris Hannen, what then? Gay must be protected -against herself--made happy in spite of herself--a man always thinks -he can make a woman that, in spite of all observation and experience -to the contrary.... All these weeks of his absence, Chris had had -his chance, and lost it. That the boy liked Gay well enough, Carlton -knew, but _not so much as horses_. His behaviour throughout the -Horse Show had proved that--and even if Rensslaer had given him a -berth in his stables, where did Gay come in? The more superb the -horses, the greater Chris's facilities for breaking his neck; anyway, -there would be no comfort or peace of mind for the girl, and it was -pure selfishness on Chris's part to want her to sacrifice herself to -him. - -In the few moments that Gay's fate trembled in the balance, she stole -a glance at him, and saw his face pale, ravaged by the ordeal through -which he had just passed, by this even fiercer one with scarce a -breath between. - -"You promised me, Gay," he said quietly, and she bowed her head, -slipped to the door, and left him to the full bitterness of his -triumph. - -But when she had locked herself into her den, she glanced round the -room as if the drama, lately enacted there, still palpitated, living -in the air.... To a manly man there can be no hour more painful, -than when his rights are invaded, and the impossibility demanded of -him of a love where no love is; but it was of Lossie's passion and -humiliation that Gay was thinking, of the uselessness of it, not -Carlton's pain ... and then Chris's haggard, white, proud young face -as it had looked just now, came--and stayed. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -DEAD SEA APPLES - -It was late October, and Chris was riding harder than ever, and on -the principle, as he told himself grimly, of "lucky in horses, -unlucky in love," was having success after success, not only as a -jockey, but a trainer, and bid fair to have a good stable of his own -before long. - -Gay had gone abroad with indecent suddenness immediately after her -engagement, dragging the Professor with her, and forbidding Carlton -to accompany them, because "she wanted a little time with Frank, -since she was so soon to leave him." Yet, when at last she came -back, after three months' absence, and then only because her brother -insisted on it, Carlton was never able to get a moment alone with -her, try as he might. - -The devices she had used to stave off his proposal she used with -fourfold skill to avoid being alone with him, she who had detested -society, surrounded herself at all hours with it; even when she had -to choose the decorations for the house he had taken in Norfolk -Street, she took Effie Bulteel with her; the jewels he gave her, she -never wore. - -She treated her new tie as a purely nominal one, appeared careless -and fancy-free; but she meant to go through with her bargain all the -same, and a date in December had been actually fixed for the wedding, -when the Professor with his usual inconvenience, fell ill. - -Gay always declared that the trouble began with his discovery of a -wonderful new microbe, that after due blazonment in the medical -press, turned out to be something quite different to what it -pretended to be, and, as she expressed it, sat up on its squirmy -tail, making insulting faces at its non-discoverer. Frank took the -matter so much to heart as to be at first hesitatingly ailing, then -with considerably less hesitation, and as it entailed no effort, -really ill for some time. - -Nature was exacting her toll for his unhealthy, sedentary life, with -its late hours, and lack of exercise, and all the tenderness for -which Gay in those days had no other outlet, expended itself on him. -She was a most devoted nurse, but to Carlton it almost looked as if, -like the little boys and old Sam Weller's coach, the Professor had -done it "a-purpose," when he lingered so unconscionably long a time -over his convalescence, and the beautiful house in Norfolk Street -still lacked a mistress. - -It would be a cold, practical mistress, who never gave its master a -kiss, or word of love, or welcome, and who as wife might reasonably -be expected to be still more the "woman with no nonsense about her," -that Gay evidently nowadays aspired to be. - -Some men like brilliant women, hard and bright, others prefer hearts -warm and tender. Carlton was one of these last, for, as Lossie had -divined, there was a great capacity for romantic love in the man. -Sometimes when most starved for sympathy, for appreciation where he -had the right to expect it, he remembered the hot flood of devotion, -of passion, that Lossie had poured out on him, and shivered in the -isolation to which Gay from the first had banished, and rigorously -kept him. - -The heart makes its own decisions--Gay's had made hers in that -passionate cry, "Come back, for I love you, Chris," and Carlton had -thought that he knew better than her heart what was good for her, and -reaped his reward in an automaton that talked, and smiled, and -conducted itself with perfect grace and decorum, but that was not Gay. - -It was the other Gay he wanted--the girl so full of life, and charm, -and sparkle--the girl who could give brave kisses, and love with the -thoroughness she put into everything that she did, the delicious -comrade, the trusty counsellor, the dear household fairy who had the -knack of creating a home wherever she might be, and that he had not -hitherto found. - -Well, he would not find it now--"for without hearts, there is no -home"--and his town and country houses would be well ordered by a -capable house-mistress, cold and uninterested, when the Professor, -who seemed to be in no hurry, set her free to assume her duties as -wife. - -Oddly enough, Lossie seemed the happiest of the three, and having -made her supreme appeal to Carlton, had apparently forgotten all -about it. She met him without embarrassment, was friendly without -effort--sometimes he rubbed his eyes, and thought he must have -dreamed that vivid scene with her in Gay's den; yet he found himself -thinking of it more often as time went on, and sometimes searched her -intensely blue eyes for even a trace of the memory of it. But he -found none--if Lossie, indeed, were playing a game, she played it -magnificently well. - -She neither sought nor avoided him, was quite pleasant, but -profoundly indifferent, when they met at Connaught Square or -elsewhere, and, most damning proof of all that she had ceased to -value his opinion, permitted herself slight lapses in manner, and -carelessnesses in dress before him. She even yawned occasionally in -his face, treating him, as he said angrily to himself, like some -damned old woman rather than the man whom she most wished to -please--but did she? - -He came to the conclusion that her outbreak had been a fit of nerves, -combined with an interested desire to share his very handsome -fortune, and that having failed, she thought no more about him, but -decided to turn her attention elsewhere, the opportunity for doing so -occurring very shortly after his own engagement. - -For the unexpected had happened. Mrs. Elkins was being dressed by -her maid to go to her lawyers, there to sign a fresh will she had -made, by which she left everything to her favourite of the moment, -and away from George Conant, who had annoyed her, when in the mirror, -the woman saw the old lady's face contorted, terrible, with the most -ghastly look of fear in her eyes, and though she struggled and fought -dumbly for hours, she never spoke again. - -George flew to Lossie the moment he was certain of what he had to -offer her, and she accepted him on the spot, to his intense joy, -while Gay so warmly encouraged the pair at her house, that Carlton -one day complained bitterly of the ubiquity of that "grinning idiot," -George Conant, who certainly since his accession to fortune, was more -than ever like a Cheshire cat. - -"He is an excellent match," said Gay coldly, "and what is better, he -adores Lossie--I don't see why they should not be very happy. She -will be the prettiest woman in his regiment, and have no end of a -good time." - -Could this be Gay speaking--Gay who at one time had been all heart -and no head, who was now all head and no heart? - -"I should have thought," he said, "that love might have some voice in -the matter. No woman, surely, could love George Conant-- - -"Oh," said Gay bitterly, "when a girl can't marry the man she loves, -she may just as well marry the man who loves her"--and Carlton winced. - -He knew that he had taken a mean advantage of Gay, and was deeply -humiliated, not only in his honour, but his pride, for by way of -being a vain man, the simultaneous and utter indifference of both -girls, hit him hard. Lossie had only wanted him for his fortune, -going to extremest lengths to obtain it--Gay had wanted neither him -nor his money, and accepted him only in a fit of passionate anger -against Chris, of which she had instantly repented. Yet there was a -tenacity of purpose, as of love, about the man, that forbade his -throwing up the game. - -As at every turn Lossie and Captain Conant seemed to cross his path, -the one all beauty and (affected) happiness, the other all grin and -possessiveness, a sombre rage, with more of heartache in it than he -imagined, seized him. For many a man only misses a slighted love -when, barred from his own hearth-fires, he turns in his extremity to -it, only to find cold ashes, and Carlton in those days felt very -chilly and lonely indeed. - -Aunt Lavinia had been anything but well lately. One day, speaking to -Gay of the Professor, who, like most doctors, was very nervous about -himself, she said: - -"Ah, my dear, when we are young, we only _fear_ we have complaints, -when we are old, we hope so." - -Gay looked at her, startled. - -"Do you find life such a grind, auntie?" she said, rather -falteringly, knowing whose fault it was that "Laddie" was riding more -recklessly than ever, and how Lavinia suffered over it, for he was -the dearest thing in the whole world to her, as perhaps _now_ she was -the dearest thing to him. - -"Well, my dear," said Lavinia quaintly, "life goes on with ups and -downs, with long oases of worry, stagnation, and brief thrills of -pleasure, until one day, we suddenly awaken to find people packing up -in all directions--some have gone without our noting it, or saying -farewell, others are in too great a hurry to think of us. Then in a -panic, we decide to call together our friends of long ago, to come -and make merry with us, and half the invitations come back to us, -with 'gone away' scrawled across them. Then we rub our eyes, and -realise that our going away time is near also, and henceforth we -don't trouble much about the affairs of life, only how to get -ourselves off decently, and in order." - -Gay stooped and kissed the sweet little face, but was far from -understanding _then_. - -Rensslaer had been away during the autumn, hunting at Spa, then he -had been shooting grizzlies in one place, and lions in another, but -with late November, he was back again, and the first thing he did was -to persuade Gay and the fairly convalescent Professor, to come and -stay with him at Elsinore, where Frank spent his whole time in the -library, save when dragged out for a drive. - -Gay was abroad all day, either hunting with Rensslaer, or about those -stables of whose inmates she never wearied, and once she found her -way alone to St. Swithin's Court, going soft-footed over the house -that was to have been hers--hers and Chris's.... - -It was very quaint, and old, and beautiful, and she peopled it with -happy folk, and happy voices, not all grown up. Standing in the -empty rooms, with doors hanging melancholy on their hinges, she saw -it a nest of warmth, and love, and laughter, heard the cheery voice, -the ringing tread that made the sweetest music in all the world to -her--felt with a passion of longing, Chris's arm round her shoulder, -and his hard, lean young face pressed close to hers.... - -She came to herself with a start, and there rushed over her the -memory of a big house in town, all swept and garnished, waiting for -her to walk in, and take possession.... She covered her eyes with -her hands as if to shut out the face of the man who would share it -with her.... strange that what held all Heaven to Lossie, should be -so hateful to herself ... for both would have regarded the world well -lost for the man they loved, yet the world, not that particular man, -was to be their portion. - -The girls were better friends now than they had ever been, greatly to -the delight of Lavinia (who held a brief for unsatisfactory people), -for generous Gay had come to understand Lossie better now, discovered -how much worse her bark was than her bite. - -Selfish she undoubtedly was, and in some things unprincipled, but, -like many other idle, clever women, who have no hobby to occupy their -time, no great love, no real work to sweeten their lives, she had -turned her unused energies into mischief, talked scandal, done -spiteful things, mainly for want of something better to do. - -Certainly she had many things to embitter her that Gay had not, for -by her own recent experiences, Gay knew that suffering of a certain -kind does not ennoble, on the contrary, it tends to deteriorate the -character, and ruin the temper. With the ease of mind that wealth -brings, Lossie might develop into a very different woman--and -yet--and yet--now and again would come to Gay flashes of insight, in -which she seemed to see poor blundering George Conant, a mere -hopeless pawn in the game that Lossie was playing with such -consummate audacity and skill. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -THE GODS DECIDE - -Rensslaer never spoke of Chris, but one night, when Carlton had gone -back to town after spending the day at Elsinore, he said: - -"Mr. Mackrell seems to dislike Captain Conant very much." - -"Yes." - -"Then he had better cut out Captain Conant, and marry Miss Lossie -himself," said Rensslaer quietly. - -Gay laughed. - -These two always understand one another, almost as well, Gay thought, -only differently, as she and Chris did. And Gay knew his story now, -shyly suggested rather than told, a story of self-denial, of -self-abnegation for the sake of one loved only too truly and well. - -"They are admirably well suited to each other," said Rensslaer. "She -adores _him_, and your coldness, and his male dislike of Captain -Conant, are impelling him naturally towards her--a little push, and -the thing is done." - -Then they both laughed again, and Gay's spirits rose enormously. - -"I will ask them down without Captain Conant," said Rensslaer, and he -did, and somehow he and Gay managed to lose them in the park, and as -it was some miles in length, and Carlton especially absent-minded -that afternoon, this was not difficult. - -"Gay looks ill," Carlton said abruptly, revealing the direction his -thoughts had taken, when they turned to find their companions -vanished. - -"Of course," said Lossie, and shrugged her shoulders. - -"Why of course?" - -He spoke sharply, with an intense feeling of humiliation. Lossie, -turning to look at him, thought a little cruelly of _her_ bitter -hour; it was his turn now. - -"Can't you see that she is utterly wretched," she said, "and thinks -it her fault that Chris Hannen is trying to kill himself harder than -ever?" - -"It's the behaviour of a moral coward," said Carlton sternly; "but he -was never half good enough for her." - -"Oh," said Lossie, "it isn't what is good enough for us, but what we -_want_, that matters!" - -He turned to look at her--eyes, lips, hair, every bit of her, warm -with--what? And he was cold, so cold, bleeding in his pride and -self-esteem, it was Gay he wanted, but she had gone far to freeze out -all the love that was in him.... - -"And is it George Conant you want so badly?" he said quietly, but -with a sensation of stealing warmth in his veins to which they were -of late unaccustomed. - -"I am going to marry him," she said contemptuously, "and there will -be five miserable people more in the world, including Chris!" - -"Why should you be miserable?" he said, but his voice was not very -steady, and his eyes were trying to force hers to meet them. "I'm -sure Conant will not be." - -"It is not _his_ happiness or mine, that counts with you, but only -Gay's," said Lossie, quietly. - -He did not deny it, and a pang ran through the girl. He would never -love anyone but Gay; still, did that matter? Lossie had enough love -for both--through suffering she had come to know that the fulness of -joy is in loving, not in being loved. - -Involuntarily both had stopped, and in the wintry afternoon, with -skeleton trees all about them, they were looking in each other's -faces--in that moment Carlton saw his way clear, saw the road that -led to Gay's happiness, if not his own--and took it. - -* * * * * * * - -Lossie had never looked so lovely in her life, or Carlton so manly, -if frightfully pale, than when, after an hour's absence, they came -in, and Gay got Lossie up into her bedroom, shut the door, and turned -round to remark: - -"_Poor_ Conant!" - -That she did not say "Poor Carlton!" was part of the tragedy of the -whole thing--for him. - -"Oh, Gay," cried Lossie, "I didn't ask him this time"--she blushed -warmly--"but I've been doing pretty much the same thing in a -different way." - -"Poor Conant!" said Gay again. "As Chris would say, he'll be all -top-boots and no grin!" - -"Oh, he is young--he will get over it," said Lossie. "I never -pretended to care for him, and as to suffering, haven't _I_ gone -through enough?" - -"And pray," said Gay, who felt a great desire to turn head over heels -a great many times in rapid succession, just as she had done when she -was a child, "when is Carlton going to tell me that he has--has"--she -pretended to weep--"jilted me?" - -For a moment Lossie turned away; already she was a better woman as -she said: - -"Gay, he knew that you loved Chris too much for there to be the -smallest scrap of love in your heart left over for _him_. He said -that life without love was like the sky without sun--that he had been -a selfish brute to think he could make you happier than Chris could." - -"He's quite right," said Gay, who had recovered all her good looks in -a moment, and with them the old charm and _gaieté de cœur_ that -had so distinguished her, "and if you'll get Mr. Rensslaer to show -you his sculpture and medals presently, and leave Carlton and me -together, I'll just tell him that he's a dear--and that I love him." - -Gay never told Chris, nor Carlton Lossie, what was said during that -brief interview in the Elsinore drawing-room; but Gay, to her shame, -realised then, how consistently Carlton had played the game of love, -how if he had been greedy once, he had sacrificed himself twice over -for her, and tears fell from her eyes that night, before she dropped -into the first dreamless slumber she had known for months. - -The Professor was delighted that her home with him was to remain her -home still, and everyone was happy except George Conant and Chris. -The latter knew nothing of the change of partners, and went slogging -away at his failures and successes, seemingly quite unable to break -his neck, though he took every opportunity of trying to do so. Even -when he _did_ hear the news, he made no comment, lowered his proud -shield of reserve to no man or woman either. It was no affair of -his, when Gay had "chucked" him; she had done it for once and all, -and he did not go near her. - -There was not an ounce of vice in Chris, but she had sent him further -on the road to the devil than anyone but himself, and perhaps Mrs. -Summers knew, and the devoted old woman waxed more bitter against Gay -day by day. It did not require the removal of certain photographs -from his rooms, to indicate who was responsible for the change in him. - -"As if, knowing how he misses his mother, she oughtn't to stand by -him through everything," said Mrs. Summers indignantly to herself, -and tried hard to make it up to her dear Mr. Chris in extra -attention. But it did not seem to do him much good; he was beginning -to think that there was a curse upon him, and that is a fatal thing -for a man, making him sometimes reckless, sometimes bad, but seldom -mentally, morally, or physically better. - -But he turned up at Mackrell's wedding in December, and if each man -surprised in the other's eyes, a look that told how to both there -might be many women, but only one Gay, and Chris suspected a supreme -renunciation in Carlton's taking Lossie as the only way to Gay's -happiness, he had no idea of screwing himself up a second time to the -sacrifice of all he held most dear. - -Gay made a delightful bridesmaid, and Chris was the smartest, most -sought after man there. He had always the air, the gay address, the -charm of one of Charles Lever's adventurous heroes, belonged more to -past times than present ones, and Gay, defiantly flirting on her own -account, was appalled to see how easily and naturally he could flirt -also--with one very lovely young married woman in particular, who had -long tried to annex him. If he took a savage delight in paying Gay -back in her own coin, inflicting a little of the pain on her that she -had inflicted on him, was it not very natural--though not natural to -Chris? - -The most lovable nature is the easiest ruined, the most unmalleable, -when it has once turned against what it loves. Whether it were that -having made his one grand renunciation in vain, Chris felt himself -incapable of rising again to such heights of self-sacrifice, or that -the capacity to love, as he had once loved, was forever scourged out -of him by Gay's failure to him at a supreme moment, the fact remained -that he could not, and never meant to forgive her. She had belonged -to Carlton first; it was Carlton who had had the first kiss from her -soft young lips, and many others. Chris could not know that all the -kissing had been on one side only, and very little of that--the -tactics Gay had practised when she desired to ward off Carlton's -proposals, were equally successful in preventing his enjoying the -privileges of an accepted suitor. - -The world, looking on at the meeting between Chris and Gay, said that -between two stools she had fallen to the ground, that she had been a -fool to be cut out by her cousin, and what was worse, it pitied -her.... - -She had made a complete failure of Trotting, (her horses were sold, -and the sport was quite given up), of matrimony, of everything, said -that same world, but Min Toplady rejoiced to see the light come back -to her darling's eyes, the spring to her step, and the merry ring to -her laugh, to know her prettier, happier than she had been for months -past, her perpetual anxiety about Chris's precious neck -notwithstanding. - -Rensslaer too was satisfied. St. Swithin's still waited, the post he -had offered Chris was open still--so was Gay's heart, and all would -come right in time.... - -But months ran by, and it did not. - -The Professor was still made exquisitely comfortable by his sister, -and pursued the selfish tenor of his way. Lossie reigned, _quite_ -good, and _quite_ happy, the triumphantly lovely mistress of the -house in Norfolk Street, and divers other places, and Carlton, if not -happy, was at least resigned, and very proud of her. - -Rensslaer pursued his various hobbies with his usual quiet -persistence, George Conant had started a racing stable, and was -squandering the Elkins' thousands at a great rate, but all that Gay -ever heard of Chris now, was gleaned from the papers. He had been -devoted to Lavinia, as usual, when they met at the wedding, but had -not since been near her, and she thought his keeping away a good -sign, and a proof that he was ashamed of his own stiff-neckedness. -But Gay knew that by her failure in courage at a critical moment of -her life she had lost him, and that he would give her no second -chance. - -Oh, what was honour, what was duty, compared with love, when love had -called her with Chris's voice as it had done that morning? There -must be some coward blot in her, some bad strain of blood that -prevented her being true to herself ... in pluck, in love, in loyalty -alike, she had failed ... she had only to say to Carlton, "It is all -a mistake; I accepted you in a fit of pique--under a -misunderstanding," but she had humiliated Chris alike as a man and a -lover in the presence of his rival, and a man of the most sensitive -pride, he could not forgive her. - -He had not turned his back on her when she committed her mad -escapade, got herself talked about; angry as he was with her, he had -not shown it, only remonstrated quietly with her, and in vain. He -had put up with all her tempers without a murmur; his lovely -disposition had never once been at fault, or broken down under the -strain. Finally, he had been prepared to give up for her sake the -profession he so deeply loved, and she had thrown his renunciation -back in his face; if he met with a fatal accident, she alone would be -responsible for it. - -She held her head as high as ever, and only Carlton and Lavinia -guessed what she suffered, but with the end of the steeplechase -season, relief came, and she drew a free breath. For six months at -least, Chris would be safe, and as in the nature of things, he was -bound to be oftener in town, it was inevitable that sooner or later -they must meet. - -And at last they did. One day they passed each other close in -Piccadilly, Gay driving herself, and Chris in a hansom with the Mrs. -Guest who had been at Lossie's wedding. They produced a flashing -impression of youth, gaiety, and good looks, and so completely -wrapped up in each other were they, that they did not even see Gay, -who drove on with the furies in her heart. - -So _that_ was the reason that he could not forgive her, because -another woman had taken her place in his heart... Jealousy, -overpowering, terrible, racked poor Gay from then onwards--never had -she loved Chris so much, never was it more impossible by look or word -to try to call him back to her. - -It was equally certain that Chris was resolute not to put himself -within reach of such calling. In proportion to a man's love for a -woman, is her power to influence him for good or evil, and Chris owed -her a secret grudge for inflicting on him an injury that had done him -no more good, morally, than Carlton's rejection of Lossie's love had -once done her. The Mrs. Guest episode brought him little pleasure, -and was not precisely of his own seeking--considerably to his -surprise, too, his present existence did not satisfy him as it had -done, and at odd times he thought of that other life which he could -so pleasantly have lived at St. Swithin's. - -He felt a brute to keep away from Lavinia, but in the frame of mind -he then was, knew himself to be no fit company for her. Yet in the -event, just as her life had been one long occasion of making -opportunities for others, so by her death were the two hopelessly -alienated people she loved best in the world, to be at last brought -together. - -In June came the cruel, mercifully brief illness that had threatened -her so long, and Gay was constantly at hand to help her bear it, but -it was to Chris she clung, who on his part plainly dreaded to be -parted from her, realising too late, how lonely he would be, when the -one woman who had so good an influence over him was gone. Had he -been her own, the son that Lavinia had coveted, he could not have -been more to her than he was, displaying qualities that made Gay -admire and love him more with every hour. Watchful and devoted, the -full tenderness and manliness of his nature were revealed with a -fulness that only made the more marked his attitude towards Gay, to -whom he remained cold, courteous, and completely indifferent always. - -Once it half broke her heart to hear him, when he thought her absent, -give Lavinia a message for his mother. Gay loved the simplicity of -belief that never doubted the old friends would meet, suspected -Chris's longing--who knows?--to be going himself to the one he so -loved, and had never ceased to want. - -"It will please her better that I can tell her you are very happy, -Laddie," said Lavinia, who by a light invisible, saw what he did not. -"And, you know, after all there is only one thing that matters, one -first, last word--Love"--but he did not seem to hear her; there was a -hard little kernel of bitterness in his heart against Gay, that -nothing seemed able to remove. - -* * * * * * * - -Chris was standing in the sunny blue dining-room, staring straight -before him, seeing nothing, when a slight sound at hand made him -wheel suddenly, it was only a tired girl, weeping with bowed head on -her hands ... how many nights and days had she been watching, and now -needed to watch no more.... - -Something in his heart gave way, and with it all his fierce pride and -unforgivingness towards her, as he uttered her name, she looked up... - -Haggard they were, and sad and worn, as their eyes drew them -together, with little of comeliness in their young faces, till love -broke through, and flooded them with beauty ... perhaps it was of the -message to his mother that Gay was thinking, as timidly she framed -his face in her hands, and softly, as if she feared to bruise his -lips, kissed him. - - - -THE END - - - -Miller, Son, & Compy., Ltd., Finsbury Circus Buildings, London, E.C. - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GAY LAWLESS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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