arrying a raw egg in a
desert spoon. The man who first gets to the winning post without a mishap
is the winner. But there will be other games as well. I am just
mentioning a few of them."

Gwendolin Morton approached with Franz Heller and the tall blond girl
whom "The Automobile Girls" had seen for a moment at the postoffice.

"We have to come to believe in the American fashion of introducing our
friends," declared Miss Morton. "You know, in England it is not the
custom to introduce people to one another at a tea party. May I present
my friend, Maud Warren, to you, Miss Stuart, Miss Carter, and the Misses
Thurston."

The four girls bowed. Maud Warren inclined her head slightly, giving each
girl in turn a supercilious stare.

"I suppose father and Dorothy have been persuading you to take part in
the nonsensical side of our entertainment next week," inquired Gwendolin.
"I am trying to look after the riding. Do any of you ride horseback well
enough to go in for the hurdle jumping? I warn you, you will find it
difficult to win. Miss Warren is one of the best riders in New York. She
has taken prizes at hurdle jumping before, at her riding school."

Ruth declined. "I am afraid no one of us rides well enough to go in for
this contest. I ride, of course, but I am not equal to the jumping."

Ruth spied Barbara looking at her with longing eyes.

"I beg your pardon, Bab!" Ruth laughed. "I had no right to decline the
hurdle jumping for all of us. Would you like to try?"

"Of course, I should like to try!" Barbara exclaimed. "But I know it is
out of the question. I have no horse, and I haven't a riding habit here."
Barbara turned shyly to the Ambassador. "I have never done any real
hurdle jumping," she explained. "But I have jumped over all kinds of
fences riding through the country."

The Ambassador smiled. "You need no better training for hurdle races," he
replied.

"If a horse is what you need," cried Dorothy Morton, "why not use one
from our stables. We have a number of riding horses. Do let me lend you
one and enter the hurdle jumping contest. It is a dangerous amusement,
however. I won't try it."

"Oh, I am not in the least afraid," Bab declared. "Only, if I am left at
the post, and can't take a single hurdle, you must forgive me."

"Well, you understand," finished the Ambassador, "our amusements are only
for our own friends."

"Come here, Mollie," called Miss Stuart, from her corner of the room,
where she was