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 for 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 

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