d; "the teams were well matched."

"Oh, I should like to have been there. You should have told us
beforehand."

"Oh, it was more than I expected myself," he said. "I didn't think it
was in Farquhar's team."

He could not bring himself to give any credit to Ranald, and though Mrs.
Murray saw this, she refused to notice it. She was none the less anxious
to win Aleck's confidence, because she was Ranald's friend.

"Do you know my niece?" she said, turning to Maimie.

Aleck looked into Maimie's face with such open admiration that she felt
the blush come up in her cheeks.

"Indeed, she is worth knowing, but I don't think she will care to take
such a hand as that," he said, stretching out a hand still grimy in
spite of much washing. But Maimie had learned something since coming to
her aunt, and she no longer judged men by the fit of their clothes, or
the color of their skin, or the length of their hair; and indeed, as she
looked at Aleck, with his close-buttoned smock, and overalls with the
legs tucked neatly into the tops of his boots, she thought he was the
trimmest figure she had seen since coming to the country. She took
Aleck's hand and shook it warmly, the full admiration in his handsome
black eyes setting her blood tingling with that love of conquest that
lies in every woman's heart. So she flung out her flag of war, and
smiled back at him her sweetest.

"You have a fine team, I hear," she said, as her aunt moved away to
greet some of the other men, who were evidently waiting to get a word
with her.

"That I have, you better believe," replied Aleck, proudly.

"It was very clever of Ranald to come so near beating you, wasn't it?"
she said, innocently. "He must be a splendid driver."

"He drives pretty well," admitted Aleck. "He did nothing else all last
winter in the shanties."

"He is so young, too," went on Maimie. "Just a boy, isn't he?"

Aleck was not sure how to take this. "He does not think so," he
answered, shortly. "He thinks he is no end of a man, but he will have to
learn something before he is much older."

"But he can drive, you say," continued Maimie, wickedly keeping her
finger on the sore spot.

"Oh, pshaw!" replied Aleck, boldly. "You think a lot of him, don't you?
And I guess you are a pair."

Maimie tossed her head at this. "We are very good friends, of course,"
she said, lightly. "He is a very nice boy, and we are all fond of him;
but he is just a boy; he is Hughie's great friend."