Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-06
A short story

C~7HE sun had mounted high in the heav-
ems and was shining indulgently, upon
lzs=ssst the pomp and glory of the Meadow
UNkkSAI thorpe Hunt Clubs annual horse
show when Ralph Goring's dcgcart
drew up by the rne-side. The groom sprang to
the horses head and Ralph and Satttrlec leaped
down, the former to join group Of horsemen
who we're inspecting the horses in the ring, ana
the latter to look for Grace Rawlings.
satterlee was stopping with Goring for the
horse-show at Oak Lodge, Ralph's jolly little
huntingdon" as he liked to call it.. The first
time Satterlee had visited Meadowthorpe he had
felt keenly his lack of horsemonship for Mead
owthorpe is a sporting community. On this oc'
casion, however, he felt more at ease, having
taken tedious course of lessons in New York
riding-school during the past winter.
To. tell the truth, he was horribly afraid OF
horses and hated the very sight of them, but
Grace Rawlings, the Chicago heiress, was stay
ing with the Bradburys-Bradbury was the M
+. H.,-and Satterlee's fortunes were at such
point that his only hope lay in heiresses. Be
sides, in Rome one must do as the Romans do,
and here at Meadowthorpe horse-show Satter-
lees horsey attire quite as pronounced, II
not more so, as that Of any of the other men.
He wore a snufcoored coat with red waist
deed, he was very smartly turned out. At the
last moment, however he had welcomed the op-
portunity of driving over to the show with Cor
ing in his dog-cart instead of cantering over on
a polo pony, the conveyance adopted by most
Of Goring's guests
Satterlee found Miss Rawlings occupying
cogn of vantage on the box-seat of the Brad
burys' drag and was welcomed by her with
gracious smile.
"Good.morniug, Mr.. Satterlee," she cried; Il
am greatly Aattered that you should speak to
Inc at all"
''Flattered?" repeated Satterlee. "How could
/ hatter you? I don't understand"
"Oh 1 expected to be entirely neglected today.
With such an imposing array of beautiful horses'
a mere girl ought not to expect any attention at
ALL"
"But assure you, Miss Rawlings, that If all
the horses in the world were assembled in one
place could not see them while you were near.
every nicely said indeed" said Miss Raw
lings with a smile. "But, alas! I see that you
are in your ridng-clothes, and you will probably
leave me in five minutes to ride someone's
horse in the saddle class"
Satterlee smiled. Gust to show you how
wrong you are l intend to remain here by you
all day. 1 had promised to ride one or two
horses, but L will cancel my engagements"
Indeed you must not do anything of the
sort; cannot allow it," insisted Miss Rawlings
She was visibly pleased, however, much to the
disgust of Hardinga who had come up just IN
time to hear part Of their conversation
Wentworth Harding was from Chicago also,
and was known to admire Miss Rawlings i'm
mensely. He and Grace had known each other
since they were both children, and it was not
very strange, therefore, that he rather resented
Satterlee's cool appropriation of the heiress.
81 did not know you were such keen horse
man. Satterlee," he said mischevously. But
Satterlee was not to be taken off his guard.
"Oh, I ride good DEAL he said carelessly
"But / don't care much for anything but CROSS
country riding. 1t gets rather tiresome on the
aat.' He had made his bluff and determined to
stand by it.
Harding did not know whether to be angry or
amused. He knew that Satterlee could barely
stick on horse, and it made him rage inward
" to hear that enterprsing youth boast OF his
nrowess to Grace. He realized, however, that it
would never do to ridicule Satterlee in her pres
ence, for she seemed more than favorably i'm