“Call it ‘won,’ sir? That little bit o’ ways? Trixie should have been in a dozen lengths ahead, ’stead of just a teeny, tiny bit! I’m so sorry, so sorry!”
That was the only way in which she could be induced to regard her victory; but when, later on, the riding was announced, her vivacity and hopefulness returned. “Now—I’m all right! I can ride—anything! Same’s I can breathe, just as easy. An’ see here, my Lady Trix, you have got to ’xert yourself this time, you dear, beautiful, lazy thing! You hear? If you don’t, I’ll never speak to you again as long as I live! So there, my dainty one!”
Whether Trixie understood, who can tell? Certainly the dire calamity her small friend threatened was not destined to befall the proud queen of Judge Courtenay’s stables. Maybe because riding was, as Steenie said, more natural to her than driving, it was evident from the word “Go!” that she was the winner by long odds.
Almost it seemed, toward the last, that there was practically no contest at all; but the truth was that such wonderful equestrianship as Steenie Calthorp accomplished that day had never been seen on that or any other course thereabouts.
“I’m bound to beat!—and beat so far that I’ll feel all nice and clean about it in my heart, too!” she declared at starting; then she kissed her hand to Beatrice, watching wide-eyed from a seat of honor, and rode gayly away to victory. With her little face smiling and rosy, yet tremendously in earnest, the far-away look in the bonny eyes, the aureole of sun-kissed ringlets streaming on the air, she seemed to communicate to her mount her very thoughts and feelings,—“For Grandmother and Home!”
She kissed her hand to Beatrice—Page 261.
It was love, then, that won!—love and unselfishness, which even in the person of a little child were irresistible, as they are always irresistible. And so well she did her part, so noble was her aim, that, now he had learned it, even Doctor Gerould lost every opposing wish.
“Well! well! If that’s the case, I’d rather she’d beat than not—of course!—even if it damages Mordaunt’s record. And I’ll double the price if they’ll let me.”
“But, of course, also, that can’t be, my friend,” explained the Judge. “It’s just as probable as not that the Calthorp pride will up and make a rumpus about the whole matter, even now. I shall feel more comfortable after I know how the check is received. But if anything was ever honestly earned that was!—and never did I draw one so willingly. There they go! Good luck go with them!”