al dominion. It became the
Virginians, as it became the people of all the colonies, to gather
their full force against them.

The members listened with serious faces, and Robert knew that the
governor was right. He had been to Quebec, and he had already met
Frenchmen in battle. None understood better than he their skill,
courage and perseverance, and the shadow in the north was very heavy
and menacing to him too.

But his depression quickly disappeared when he returned to the bright
sunshine, and met his young friends again. The Virginians were a
singular compound of gayety and gravity. Away from the House of
Burgesses the coming horse race displaced the war for a brief
space. It was the great topic in Williamsburg and the historic names,
Blenheim and Cressy, were in the mouths of everybody.

Robert soon discovered that the horses were well known, and each had
its numerous group of partisans. Their qualities were discussed by
the women and girls as well as the men and with intelligence. Robert,
filled with the spirit of it, laid a small wager on Blenheim, and
then, in order to show no partiality, laid another in another quarter,
but of exactly the same amount on Cressy.

The evening witnessed more arrivals in Williamsburg, drawn by the news
of the race, and young men galloped up and down the wide street in the
moonlight, testing their own horses, and riding improvised
matches. The rivalry was always friendly, the gentlemen's code that
there should be no ill feeling prevailed, and more than ever the
entire gathering seemed to Robert one vast family. Grosvenor was
intensely interested in the race, and also in the new sights he was
seeing.

"Still," he said, "if it were not for the colored people I could
imagine with ease that I was back at a country meeting at home. Do you
know anything, Lennox, about these horses, Blenheim and
Cressy--patriotic fellows their owners must be--and could you give a
chap advice about laying a small wager?"

"I know nothing about them except what Stuart and Cabell say."

"What do they say?"

"Stuart knows that Blenheim is the fastest horse in Virginia, and
Cabell knows that Cressy is, and so there the matter stands until the
race is run."

"I think I'll put a pound on Blenheim, nevertheless. Blenheim has a
much more modern sound than Cressy, and I'm all for modernity."

There was an excellent race track, the sport already being highly
developed in Virginia, and, the next day bein