"I am astonished," said the Professor in quavery tones, "astonished and shocked at your congratulating my sister on the disgraceful, unwomanly exhibition she has just made of herself, and for which I am to blame, in not having put my foot down on this degrading sport from the first." "Oh! put it down," said Carlton, who looked very handsome and determined, "and keep it there if you like. _I'm_ going to take Gay home, and the quieter she is kept the better"--he turned on Lossie Holden a glance beneath which she quailed--"so you can travel back as you came, with the Professor." He put Gay as he spoke into a waiting carriage, seated himself beside her, and drove off, Rensslaer having handed to Gay her coveted trophy. "I believe," said the Professor, "that the indecency on wheels in which my unfortunate sister drove was your property, Mr. Rensslaer, and as she could not possibly have used it without your consent, I imagine it was at your suggestion she did so." "You're right there," said Rensslaer encouragingly, "and I'm proud to know my Faber's been of use to the nicest, pluckiest girl, bar none, I've seen in England." "Anyway," cried the Professor, trembling with rage, "I shall make it my business to see that she has no opportunity of disgracing herself and me again," and seizing Lossie's arm, he hurried her away. CHAPTER XVII TWO LOVERS If God sends friends, the devil sends collaterals, for the former, in addition to their superior good qualities, at least have the civility to knock at your door, the latter walk straight in to torment you at their pleasure, and Carlton had hardly left the house when Lossie appeared, furious at the determined way he had carried Gay off, and more furious still at the rebuke he had administered to herself. "You've done it now, Gay," she said spitefully. "Frank's raving mad--how I got him to town, I don't know." "Let him rave," said Gay coolly, holding one little foot to the fire. Her eyes still sparkled, a lovely colour was in her cheeks, on a table near glittered the coveted Gold Vase, and though her arms ached horribly from the late strain on them, she cared no more for the ache than for Lossie's acrimonious reproaches. "Toes turned out, first position," said Lossie, watching Gay's face cruelly. "It was something to be thankful for, I suppose, that your feet weren't further apart than they were!" Gay flushed. She had thought only of bracing her toes hard against the foot-rests, not at all of how they looked. _Had_ she looked immodest after all? "Lucky you had no feathers in your hat," said Lossie with a sneer, and at that injustice to her invariably neat racing garb, Gay rebelled indignantly. "Did you _ever_ see me befeathered on a race-course?" she said contemptuously, but Lossie shrugged her shoulders.