aiting for you at the end of your ride; she must sew a button on your
coat. The sooner she can accomplish this, the better; for back you must
ride, again, to the starting place, with the button firmly attached to
your coat."

"Will you sew the button on for me, Mollie?" Ralph begged. He saw that
Mollie was taking less part in the amusements than the other girls.

"Certainly!" agreed Mollie. "I accept your proffered honor. To tell you
the truth, you stand a better chance of winning with my assistance. I am
a much better seamstress than Bab."

"Oh, Bab, will be busy winning the riding prize," declared Ralph under
his breath, smiling at his two friends, Mollie and Barbara.

Maud Warren, the New York girl famous for her skillful riding, was
standing near them, talking with Reginald Latham. As she overheard
Ralph's remark, a sarcastic smile flitted across her pale face. She had
ignored Bab since their introduction at the Ambassador's; but the thought
of this poor country girl's really knowing how to ride horseback was too
much for her.

Barbara caught Maud Warren's look of amusement and blushed furiously.
Then she turned to Ralph and said aloud, "Oh, I am not a rider when
compared with Miss Warren."

"I don't believe in comparisons, Miss Thurston," declared the Ambassador,
who had walked up to them. "But I think you are an excellent horsewoman.
And I much prefer your riding in the old-fashioned way with a side
saddle. I have observed that it is now fashionable, in Lenox, for the
young women to ride astride."

"Girls," Miss Stuart declared, "it is luncheon time. We must return to
the hotel."

"Now, does everybody understand about to-morrow?" asked Gwendolin Morton,
when the last farewells had been said. "Remember, the Gymkana race is
first. We started with this spectacle for fear the girls who have
promised to take part might back out. Then, immediately after lunch, we
shall have our horseback riding and jumping."

"I don't believe I have been wise in permitting you to engage in this
horseback riding, Barbara," Miss Stuart declared on their way home. "I am
afraid this jumping over fences is a dangerous sport. And I am not sure
it is ladylike."

"But English girls do it all the time, Aunt Sallie. Jumping hurdles is
taught in the best riding schools."

"You have had no lessons, Bab. Are you perfectly sure you do not feel
afraid?" queried Miss Stuart.

"Oh, perfectly, dear Aunt Sallie," Bab assured her.

C