unlight he showed even younger than she had thought him, young
with a primitive intensity of just being alive.

"Thank you. I would like--if it were possible--to win this race."

"This one, especially?"

"Yes, because it is the next step toward a purpose I have set myself,
and which I shall accomplish if I live. Not that I will halt if this
step fails, no, nor for a score of such failures, but I am anxious to
go on and finish."

Up to Emily's face rushed the answering color and fire to his; drawn
by the bond of mutual earnestness, she leaned nearer.

"You live to do something? So do I, so do I! And every one else
_plays_."

However Lestrange would have replied, he was checked by the crash of
the courtyard gate. Abruptly recalled to herself, Emily turned, to see
Dick Ffrench coming toward them.

Remembering how the three had last met, the situation suggested
strain. But to Emily's astonishment the young men exchanged friendly
nods, although Dick flushed pink.

"Good morning, Lestrange," he greeted. "I've just come up from the
city, Emily, and there wasn't any carriage at the station, so when one
of the testers told me you were here I came over to get a ride."

"I've been to see Mr. Bailey," she responded. "Get in."

As Dick climbed in beside her, she bent her head to Lestrange; if she
had regretted her impulsive confidence, again the clear sanity and
calm of the gray eyes she encountered established self-content.

When they were trotting down the road toward home, in the crisp air,
Emily glanced at her cousin.

"I did not know you and Mr. Lestrange were so well acquainted," she
remarked.

"I see him now and then," Dick answered uneasily. "He's too busy to
want me bothering around him much. You--remembered him?"

"Yes."

He absently took the whip from its socket, flecking the horse with it
as he spoke.

"It was awfully square of you, Emily, not to mention that night to
Uncle Ethan. It wasn't like a girl, at all. I made an idiot of
myself, and you've never said anything to me about it since. I never
told you where Lestrange took me, because I didn't like to talk of the
thing. I'm really awfully fond of you, cousin."

"Yes, Dickie," she said patiently.

"Well, Lestrange rubbed it in. Oh, he didn't say much. But he carried
me down to where they were practising for a road race. Such a jolly
lot of fellows, like a bunch of kids; teasing and calling jokes back
and forth at one another half the night unti