er's mare run for the
Derby, wouldn't you, Alan?" he said.

"I should very much, sir; but Mr. Lane is set against racing."

"Oh, I think he'll let you off that day. I'll tell him he may. But,
like your mother, I don't approve of young men betting--I know what it
means."

He was thinking, with bitterness, of his own youthful indiscretions.

"If you go, don't bet. You might be tempted, naturally, to back your
father's mare Lucretia, but you would stand a very good chance of
losing."

"Don't you think she'll win, sir?" Alan asked, emboldened by his
employer's freedom of speech.

"I do not. My horse, The Dutchman, is almost certain to win, my trainer
tells me." Then he added, apologetic of his confidential mood, "I tell
you this, lest through loyalty to your own people you should lose your
money. Racing, I fancy, is very uncertain, even when it seems most
certain."

Again Crane had cause to congratulate himself upon the somewhat clever
manipulation of a difficult situation. He had scored again in his
diplomatic love endeavor. He knew quite well that Allis's determined
stand was only made possible by her expectation of gaining financial
relief for her father through Lucretia's winning the Derby. Should she
fail, they would be almost forced to turn to him in their difficulties.
That was what he wanted. He knew that the money won over Diablo, if
accepted, must always be considered as coming from him. The gradual
persistent dropping of water would wear away the hardest stone; he would
attain to his wishes yet.

He was no bungler to attempt other than the most gently delicate
methods.

XXIX

Encouraged by Jockey Redpath's explanation of his ride on Lucretia,
Allis was anxious that Dixon should take the money her father had set
aside for that purpose and back their mare for the Brooklyn Derby.

"We had better wait a day or two," Dixon had advised, "until we see the
effect the hard gallop in the Handicap has had on the little mare. She
ain't cleanin' up her oats just as well as she might; she's a bit off
her feed, but it's only natural, though; a gallop like that takes it out
of them a bit."

It was the day after Crane's visit to Ringwood that Dixon advised Allis
that Lucretia seemed none the worse for her exertion.

"Perhaps we'd better put the money on right away," he said. "She's sure
to keep well, and we'll be forced to take a much shorter price race
day."

"Back the stable," advised Allis, "then if