vidence; it will be lying in my trunk,
waiting to be made up into a wig after we've won."

"No, no; it won't do," the Trainer reiterated; "everybody'd know you,
an' there'd be a fine shindy. I believe you could ride the horse right
enough, an' if he has a chance on earth you'd get it out of him. But
give up the idea, everybody'd know you."

The girl pleaded, but Dixon was obdurate. He did not contend for an
instant that she was not capable of riding the horse,--only in a race
with many jockeys she would find it different from riding a trial
gallop,--but his main objection was that she'd be known. Allis closed
the discussion by saying that she was going home to encourage her father
a little over the mare's defeat in the Handicap, and made Dixon promise
not to engage Redpath for Lauzanne till her return next morning.

"He can't take another mount," she said, "because he's retained for
Lucretia, and we haven't declared her out yet."

"I'm hopin' we may not have to," remarked Dixon. "Anyway, there's no
hurry about switchin' the boy onto Lauzanne, so we'll settle that when
you come back."

XXX

Allis's visit to Ringwood was a flying one. Filial devotion to her
father had been one motive, but not the only one. Her brother Alan's
wardrobe received a visitation from hands not too well acquainted with
the intricacies of its make-up.

John Porter was undoubtedly brightened by the daughter's visit.
Lucretia's defeat in the Handicap had increased his despondency. To
prepare him gradually for further reverses Allis intimated, rather than
asserted, that Lucretia might possibly have a slight cold--Digon wasn't
sure; but they were going to run Lauzanne also. Like the Trainer, her
father had but a very poor opinion of the Chestnut's powers in any other
hands but in that of the girl's.

"Who'll ride him?" he asked, petulantly. "It seems you can't trust any
of the boys now-a-days. If they're not pin-headed, they're crooked as a
corkscrew. Crane tells me that Redpath didn't ride Lucretia out in
the Handicap, and whether he rides the mare or Lauzanne it seems all
one--we'll get beat anyway."

"Another boy will have the mount on Lauzanne," Allis answered.

"What difference will that make? You can't trust him."

"You can trust this boy, father, as you might your own son, Alan."

"I don't know about that. Alan in the bank is all right, but Alan as a
jockey would be a different thing."

"Father, you would trust me, would