Cinder Path Tales

A VIRGINIA JUMPER 157 Now, I confess that when I finished the reading I really questioned the sanity of the "chatelaine" of "The Oaks." What effect could a note have, no matter how worded, upon easy-going Dick Fairfax? What ap­ peal could she make that would add the necessary feet to his jump? It made me think of boyish storiesof the age ofchivalry, when talismanic words were efficacious. I read this short note over as carefully and even more wonderingly than the first black- bordered letter written by the same hand. Then I put it away in my pocket, re­ solved to follow instructions implicitly, no matter how foolish they might seem. I should have nothing withwhich to reproach myself, and would give Mrs. Fairfax no occasion for fault-finding. So the matter was left, and Dick went on with the rest of the team, perfectly contented with himself and all around him. The games that year were not particularly interesting, except the one event for which we were so poorly prepared, and in which even Tom Furness did not have the courage to claim a single point. It was a clear day aftera three-days' rain, and the track washeavy, whichhappened to suit us. We had a couple of " mud larks "