A month had gone by since the two sisters had met the one man who was to change the whole course of their lives.
Louise Pendleton made no secret of her interest in handsome Jay Gardiner. She built no end of air-castles, all dating from the time when the young man should propose to her.
She set out deliberately to win him. Sally watched with bated breath.
There could be no love where there was such laughing, genial friendship as existed between Louise and handsome Jay. No, no! If she set about it in the right way, she could win him.
As for Jay himself, he preferred dark-eyed Louise to her dashing, golden-haired sister Sally.
The climax came when he asked the girls, and also their father and mother, to join a party on his tally-ho and go to the races.
Both dressed in their prettiest, and both looked like pictures.
The races at Lee were always delightful affairs. Some of the finest horses in the country were brought there to participate in these affairs.
As a usual thing, Jay Gardiner entered a number of his best horses; but on this occasion he had not done so. Louise declared that it would have made the races all the more worth seeing had some of his horses been entered.
"Don't you think so, Sally?" she said, turning to her sister, with a gay little laugh; but Sally had not even heard, she was thinking so deeply.
"She is anticipating the excitement," said Mrs. Pendleton, nodding toward Sally; and they all looked in wonder at the unnatural flush on the girl's cheeks and the strange, dazzling brightness in her blue eyes.
They would have been startled if they could have read the thoughts that had brought them there.
There was the usual crush of vehicles, for the races at Lee always drew out a large crowd.
Jay Gardiner's box was directly opposite the judge's stand, and the group of ladies and gentlemen assembled in it was a very merry one, indeed.
Every seat in the grand stand was occupied. Both Louise and Sally were in exuberant spirits.
It was the first race which they had ever attended, and, girl-like, they were dying with curiosity to see what it would be like.
"Which horse have you picked for the winner?" asked Mr. Pendleton, leaning over and addressing Jay.
"Either General or Robin Adair. Both seem to stand an equal chance. Well, I declare!" exclaimed Gardiner, in the same breath, "if there isn't Queen Bess! It's laughable to see her entered for the race. She's very speedy, but she isn't game. I have seen her swerve when almost crowned with victory."
Sally Pendleton listened to the conversation with unusual interest.
In a few moments all the riders, booted and spurred, came hurrying out from their quarters in response to the sharp clang of a bell, and in a trice had mounted their horses, and were waiting the signal to start.
The interest of the great crowd was at its height. They were discussing their favorites freely.
The buzz of voices was deafening for a moment.
No one noticed Sally, not even Louise or her mother, as she leaned over breathlessly, and said:
"Which horse do you think is going to win, Mr. Gardiner?"
"I have no hesitancy in saying Robin Adair," he declared. "He has everything in his favor."
"I have an idea that the little brown horse with the white stockings will win."
He laughed, and a look indicative of superior judgment broke over his face.
"I feel very sure that your favorite, Queen Bess, will lose, Miss Sally," he said.
"I feel very confident that she will win," she said.
He shook his head.
"I should like to make a wager with you on that," she cried.
"A box of candy – anything you like," he replied, airily; "but I must warn you that it is not quite the correct thing to wager with a lady, especially when you are sure that she will lose."
"I'll take my chances," she replied, a strange look flashing into her excited blue eyes.
"You have not told me what the wager is to be."
For a moment the girl caught her breath and gave a lightning-like glance about her. No one was listening, no one would hear.
"You have not told me," said Jay Gardiner, gallantly, as he bent forward.
She turned and faced him, and her answer came in an almost inaudible whisper. But he heard it, though he believed he had not heard aright.
"Do I understand you to say that your hand is the wager?" he asked, surprisedly.
"Yes!" she answered.
For a moment he looked at her in the utmost astonishment. Then a laugh suffused his fair face. Surely this was the strangest wager that he had ever heard of. He was used to the jolly larks of girls; but surely this was the strangest of them all. He knew that there was little hope of Queen Bess winning the race. But he answered, with the utmost gravity:
"Very well; I accept your wager. Your hand shall be the prize, if the little mare wins."
"She is so very young – only eighteen," he said to himself, "that she never realized what she was saying. It was only a jolly, girlish prank."
If there had been in his mind the very slightest notion that Queen Bess would win, he should have refused to accept the wager. But she surely would not win; he was certain of that.
So, with an amused smile, he acquiesced in the strange compact. In the midst of the talking and laughing, the horses came cantering on to the course.
It was a beautiful sight, the thorough-bred horses with their coats shining like satin, except where the white foam had specked them, as they tossed their proud heads with eager impatience, the gay colors of their riders all flashing in the sunlight.
A cheer goes up from the grand stand, then the starter takes his place, and the half-dozen horses, after some little trouble, fall into something like a line. There is an instant of expectancy, then the flag drops, and away the horses fly around the circular race-track.
For a moment it is one great pell-mell rush. On, on, they fly, like giant grey-hounds from the leash, down the stretch of track, until they are but specks in the distance; then on they come, thundering past the grand stand at a maddening pace, with Robin Adair in the lead, General, Yellow Pete, and Black Daffy going like the wind at his heels, and Queen Bess – poor Queen Bess! – fully a score of yards behind.
A mad shout goes up for Robin Adair. He looks every inch the winner, with his eyes flashing, his nostrils dilated. Every man leans forward in breathless excitement. Even the ladies seem scarcely to breathe. Suddenly a horse stumbles, and the rider is thrown headlong. There is a moment's hush; but the horse is only an outsider, and the crowd cheer the rest encouragingly.
For a time they seem to run almost level, then most of the horses seem to show signs of the terrible strain. Robin Adair keeps steadily to the fore, with General closely at his heels. The rest begin to fall off.
Again a mad shout goes up for Robin Adair.
"No, no – General!" comes the hoarse cry from a hundred throats.
But through it all, the wiser ones notice the gallant little mare, Queen Bess, coming slowly to the front.
Some daring voice shouts:
"Queen Bess! Queen Bess!"
"She is fresh as a daisy!" mutters some one in the box adjoining Jay Gardiner's.
White to the lips, Sally Pendleton sits and watches, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
The babble of voices is so deafening that she can not hear.
Again the gallant steeds are specks in the distance. Now they pass the curve, and are on the home-stretch, dashing swiftly to the finish.
Nearer and nearer sounds the thunder of their oncoming hoofs. Ten thousand people grow mad with excitement as they dash on.
To the great surprise of the spectators, Queen Bess is gaining steadily inch by inch, until she passes those before her, even the General, and there is but a ribbon of daylight between herself and the great Robin Adair.
The crowd goes wild with intense excitement. Nerves are thrilling as down the stretch dashes the racers almost with the rapidity of lightning.
The grand stand seems to rock with the excited shouts. One great cry rises from ten thousand throats. Queen Bess has reached the great Robin Adair's flanks, and inch by inch she is gaining on him. And the excited spectators fairly hold their breath to see which horse wins.
Never in the history of the Lee races had there been such an exciting scene as this. Jay Gardiner's face is as white as death, as, with bated breath, he watches the two thorough-breds. Every one rises to his feet in the hope of catching a full view of the flyers.
Which will win the race – the great Robin Adair or the gallant little Queen Bess?
The mad shouts are deafening.
Suddenly they notice that Robin Adair, who has been victor in a dozen such races, begins to show signs of distress. The foam covers his dark chest, and his eyes flash uneasily. It is all that his rider can do to urge him on with whip and spur.
There is only one more furlong to cover. Robin Adair and little Queen Bess are side by side, neck to neck, both increasing their speed with every stride.
Suddenly Robin, the great Robin Adair, falters ever so slightly. The seething mass of men and women hold their breath. Then, quick as a flash, as if shot from a bow, gallant little Queen Bess passes him. A great cry breaks from the vast multitude of spectators. One instant later, and the cry has deepened into a mighty yell. Little Queen Bess, with every muscle strained, passes under the wire – a winner!
The next instant she is hidden from sight by the eager thousands who are crowding and pushing one another to catch a glimpse of the winner. Jay Gardiner stands for a moment as if dumbfounded. He is hardly able to credit the evidence of his own senses.
"Queen Bess had won!" cried the golden-haired girl by his side, and he answers a hoarse – "Yes."
The girl laughs, and the sound of that laugh lingers in his memory all the long years of his after-life.
"And I have won!" she adds, shrilly.
Again he answers, in that same hoarse monotone – "Yes!"
Before he has time even to think, Sally Pendleton turns around to her father and mother, crying triumphantly:
"Mamma – papa, Mr. Gardiner wants me to marry him. My hand is pledged to him; that is, if you are willing!"
The young man's face turned as white as it would ever be in death.
The effect of her words can better be imagined than described. Mr. Pendleton stared at his daughter as though he had not heard aright.
Mrs. Pendleton was dumbfounded. And Louise – poor Louise! – to her it seemed as if life had ended for her.
Mr. Pendleton recovered himself in an instant. He had been quite sure that Mr. Gardiner preferred his elder daughter Louise to his younger daughter, merry, rollicking Sally.
"I am sure, I am very well pleased," he said, heartily extending his hand to Mr. Gardiner. "Certainly I give my consent, in which my wife joins me."
Jay Gardiner's face flushed. He could not make a scene by refusing to accept the situation. He took the proffered hand. Mrs. Pendleton rose to the occasion.
"If he prefers Sally, that is the end of it as far as Louise is concerned. Sally had better have him than for the family to lose him and all his millions," she thought, philosophically.
Jay Gardiner's friends congratulated the supposedly happy lovers. Louise spoke no word; it seemed to her as though the whole world had suddenly changed; her golden day-dreams had suddenly and without warning been dispelled.
During that homeward ride, Jay Gardiner was unusually quiet. His brain seemed in a whirl – the strange event of the afternoon seemed like a troubled dream whose spell he could not shake off, do what he would.
He looked keenly at the girl by his side. Surely she did not realize the extent of the mischief she had done by announcing their betrothal.
It was not until he had seen his party home and found himself alone at last in his boarding-house that he gave full rein to his agitated thoughts.
It was the first time in the life of this debonair young millionaire that he had come face to face with a disagreeable problem.
Gay, jolly Sally Pendleton, with her flashing get-up – a combination of strangely unnatural canary-yellow hair, pink cheeks and lips, and floating, rainbow-hued ribbons – jarred upon his artistic tastes.
He did not admire a girl who went into convulsions of laughter, as Sally did, at everything that was said and done. In fact, he liked her less each time he saw her. But she was young – only eighteen – and she might, in time, have a little more sense, he reflected.
What should he do? He looked at the matter in every light; but, whichever way he turned, he found no comfort, no way out of the dilemma.
If he were to explain to the world that the engagement was only the outcome of a thoughtless wager, his friends would surely censure him for trying to back out; they would accuse him of acting the part of a coward. He could not endure the thought of their taking that view of it. All his friends knew his ideas concerning honor, particularly where a lady was concerned.
And now he was in honor bound to fulfill his part of the wager – marry Sally Pendleton, whom he was beginning to hate with a hatred that startled even himself.
Such a marriage would spoil his future, shipwreck his whole life, blast his every hope. But he himself was to blame. When that hoidenish, hair-brained girl had made such a daring wager, he should have declined to accept it; then this harvest of woe would not have to be reaped.
Suddenly a thought, an inspiration, came to him. He would go to Sally, point out to her the terrible mistake of this hasty betrothal, and she might release him from it.
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