Their opponents won the third game against a thirty. That spurred Keineth; the fourth game was faster with some hot volleying and pretty returns and won by Keineth and Billy in a quickly mounting score. Excited, Keineth did not notice that Billy had not returned one or two balls with his usual skill.
The next, a deuce game, was hotly contested. Her face ablaze with interest, Keineth held her little body tensely poised on one toe, ready for instant action. The faces of the crowd around her blurred into nothing--there seemed only left in her small world those two beyond the net!
The next game was bewildering. Keineth played desperately, but they had only won thirty points when the others made the game! The set stood four to two in Keineth's favor, but their opponents were playing stronger with each game.
In the seventh game Billy dropped off shamelessly. He was never quite ready. Before Keineth realized the situation the others had won and won easily!
"Billy!" Keineth whispered imploringly. The indifferent look on Billy's face struck terror to her heart. What _was_ the matter with him?
The next game Keineth won alone--if Billy could not play she'd play for him! Her little teeth, clenched tight together, gleamed white through her parted lips. The crimson of her cheeks mounted into her fair hair.
"What a picture!" Mrs. Lee whispered to her husband. She was not thinking of the game at all. "What a spirit! Think, William, what that can mean in this world when the child's grown up!"
"That's just why this sort of sport is good for them," Mr. Lee whispered back. "But what is the matter with Billy?"
That is what Keineth wondered, too. They had won five games--they _must_ win the next and set! Walking close to Billy she confronted him, her face ablaze. For just a moment they looked hard into one another's eyes; not a boy and girl, the one proudly conscious of his boyhood and two years' difference in age, the other a very young and all-admiring girl--but just two mortals contesting together against two others.
And at last they, Keineth and Billy, met on equal ground--Keineth had proven her mettle--let Billy show his! Keineth's clear, straightforward gaze made Billy drop his eyes in sudden shame.