'll make 'em
proud of me yet; and no one shall ever know of this awful year. I can
wipe it out, and I will, so help me God!' And the clenched hand was held
up as if to take a solemn oath that this lost year should yet be made
good, if resolution and repentance could work the miracle.

Chapter 16. IN THE TENNIS-COURT

Athletic sports were in high favour at Plumfield; and the river where
the old punt used to wabble about with a cargo of small boys, or echo to
the shrill screams of little girls trying to get lilies, now was
alive with boats of all kinds, from the slender wherry to the trim
pleasure-craft, gay with cushions, awnings, and fluttering pennons.
Everyone rowed, and the girls as well as the youths had their races, and
developed their muscles in the most scientific manner. The large, level
meadow near the old willow was now the college playground, and here
baseball battles raged with fury, varied by football, leaping, and
kindred sports fitted to split the fingers, break the ribs, and strain
the backs of the too ambitious participants. The gentler pastimes of the
damsels were at a safe distance from this Champ de Mars; croquet mallets
clicked under the elms that fringed the field, rackets rose and fell
energetically in several tennis-courts, and gates of different heights
were handy to practise the graceful bound by which every girl expected
to save her life some day when the mad bull, which was always coming but
never seemed to arrive, should be bellowing at her heels.

One of these tennis grounds was called 'Jo's Court', and here the little
lady ruled like a queen; for she was fond of the game, and being bent on
developing her small self to the highest degree of perfection, she was
to be found at every leisure moment with some victim hard at it. On a
certain pleasant Saturday afternoon she had been playing with Bess and
beating her; for, though more graceful, the Princess was less active
than her cousin, and cultivated her roses by quieter methods.

'Oh dear! you are tired, and every blessed boy is at that stupid
baseball match. 'What shall I do?' sighed Josie, pushing back the great
red hat she wore, and gazing sadly round her for more worlds to conquer.

'I'll play presently, when I'm a little cooler. But it is dull work for
me, as I never win,' answered Bess, fanning herself with a large leaf.

Josie was about to sit down beside her on the rustic seat and wait, when
her quick eye saw afar off two man