Lavinia knew that Gay was in a dangerous mood, and in a moment of impulse and anger against Chris's selfishness, might wreck her own, and two men's lives. She had a temper, and a will of her own, and a generous heart also, that could not fail to appreciate a delicacy that with Carlton was as great as his devotion. Yet Chris did not look the sort of lover that any girl would turn her back on, when he kissed Lavinia and departed.
"When the Horse Show is over," he said to himself, with a sense of relief at the postponement of the struggle, then he would fight out the burning question of which he could best live without—steeplechasing or Gay.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE EPIC OF THE HORSE
Rensslaer had taken half-a-dozen tickets for the Royal day, and any special shows that he thought would appeal to Gay. Tom Bulteel had liberally provided for the Harness classes, Carlton had concentrated on the Trotting, Chris on the jumping, which came last in the evening, so that the united tickets practically covered everything worth seeing at Olympia.
The little party, Gay, Effie, and Tom Bulteel (save when the latter were at Epsom), Lossie, Chris, and Carlton, took the Show easily, like a picnic, saw most of the good things, and missed those not so good, though when the jumping was on, Chris remained glued to his seat, deaf, blind, and oblivious to all around him, save what was passing in the arena.
The Professor had been invited, but declined—to the immense relief of everybody, as his squeals might have astounded the neighbours during the high jumping. Gay found it delightful not to have to be told after squeezing in (as happened to many other of her friends), that their cards admitted them to the building only, and seats must be booked inside, of which there were none to be booked.
The stables amused her immensely. She thought it must have astonished the cart horses to find themselves ensconced between draperies of crimson and gold, others in a delicate shade of pearly blue, with huge baskets of flowers floating over their heads, or in bowers of hothouse blooms, and upholstered in green and white—the whole scheme changed to a royal blue on the day of the King's visit. The woodwork of Rensslaer's boxes was plainly but handsomely covered in cloth, while each horse's name and its record appeared over its stall in an ornamental gilt frame.
Several of the Continental army officers in their bright uniforms strolled between the arena and the stables, chatting and keeping an eye on their splendid mounts, and Gay noted approvingly that these men seemed to be the personal friends of their horses. The tall, clean-limbed animals, although they treated the stablemen with contempt, pricked up their ears, and thrust their proudly-poised heads over the stall doors, every time one of the well-known uniforms came near.
It was a quaint sight to see the women in their delicate summer gowns walking past the stalls over the dusty asphalt floors, and peering into the horse-boxes, for an extraordinary number of women were present, every one of whom had apparently put on her costliest clothes for the occasion.