t to refuse anything to "wan av the young ladies" never for an instant
occurred to him. Probably had he asked Miss Howard's consent he would have
been spared complying with a request which his better judgment questioned,
but that did not occur to him, either, so, giving one apprehensive glance
behind him at the twenty or more passengers in the sleigh, he placed the
reins in Ruth's hands, adjusting them in the most scientific manner.

They were skimming along over a beautiful bit of road with a thick fir
wood upon one side and open fields upon the other. The road was level as a
floor, and no turn would be made for fully half a mile. Horses know so
well the difference between their own driver's touch and a stranger's
hand, and the four whose reins Ruth now held were not dullards. They had
been going along at a steady round trot, with no thought of making the
pace a livelier one, but directly the reins passed out of Michael's hands
the spirit of mischief, ever uppermost in Ruth, flew like an electric
fluid straight through those four reins, and, in less time than it takes
to tell about it, those horses had made up their minds to add a little to
the general hilarity behind them.

The change was scarcely perceptible at first, but little by little they
increased their pace, till they were fairly flying over the ground. Not
one whit did the girls in the sleigh object; the faster the better for
them. The sleighs behind did their best to keep up, but no such horses
were in the livery stable as the four harnessed to Michael's sleigh, for
Michael was the trusted of the trusted.

But he was growing very uneasy, and, leaning down close to Ruth, said:
"Ye'd better be lettin' me take thim now, Miss. We've the turn to make
jist beyant."

"O, I can make it all right; you know you said that anybody who drives two
horses decently could drive four just as well, and I've driven papa's
always."

"Yis, yis," said Michael quickly, seeing when too late that he had talked
to his own undoing, "but ye'd better be lettin' me handle thim be
moonlight; 't is deceptive, moonlight is," and he reached to take the
reins from her. But alas! empires may be lost by a second's delay, and a
second was responsible for much now.

As Michael reached for the reins the turn was reached also, and where is
the livery stable horse that does not know every turn toward home even
better than his driver, be the driver the oldest in that section of the
country! Arou