at all, caught
the ball a sharp, smacking stroke. It leaped like a bullet, straight
and true, toward the goal, and before Avery could turn, Eaton was after
it and upon it, but he did not have to strike again; it bounded on and
on between the goal-posts, while together with the applause for the
stranger arose a laugh at the expense of Avery. But as Donald halted
before her, Harriet saw that he was not angry or discomfited, but was
smiling triumphantly to himself; and as she called in praise to Eaton
when he came close again, she discovered in him only dismay at what he
had done.

The practice ended, and the players rode away. She waited in the
clubhouse till Avery and Eaton came up from the dressing-rooms.
Donald's triumphant satisfaction seemed to have increased; Eaton was
silent and preoccupied. Avery, hailed by a group of men, started away;
as he did so, he saluted Eaton almost derisively. Eaton's return of
the salute was openly hostile. She looked up at him keenly, trying
unavailingly to determine whether more had taken place between the two
men than she herself had witnessed.

"You had played polo before--and played it well," she charged. "Why
did you want to pretend you hadn't?"

He made no reply. As she began to talk of other things, she discovered
with surprise that his manner toward her had taken on even greater
formality and constraint than it had had since his talk with her father
the day before.

The afternoon was not warm enough to sit outside; in the club-house
were gathered groups of men and girls who had come in from the
golf-course or from watching the polo practice. She found herself now
facing one of these groups composed of some of her own friends, who
were taking tea and wafers in the recess before some windows. They
motioned to her to join them, and she could not well refuse, especially
as this had been a part of her father's instructions. The men rose, as
she moved toward them, Eaton with her; she introduced Eaton; a chair
was pushed forward for her, and two of the girls made a place for Eaton
on the window-seat between them.

As they seated themselves and were served, Eaton's participation in the
polo practice was the subject of conversation. She found, as she tried
to talk with her nearer neighbors, that she was listening instead to
this more general conversation which Eaton had joined. She saw that
these people had accepted him as one of their own sort to the point of
jestin