"But, truly, you can do nothing for me. No, Mr. Lavine; there is nothing I could accept. You have wronged my father----" He put up his hand in denial, but she went on to say: "At least, _I_ believe so. You can do nothing for me. I would be glad if you would right the wrong you did him so long ago; but I do not want you to do _that_ in payment for anything I may have done for Miss Bessie. "No, sir. Right my father's wrong because it _is_ a wrong and because you realize it to be such--that you were mistaken----" "I do not see that," Mr. Lavine returned, stiffly. "Then there is nothing more to be said," declared Polly, and with a quick flirt of her paddle, she drove her birchbark out of the huddle of other canoes and, in half a minute, was out of earshot. CHAPTER XVIII THE REGATTA The late July morning that broke upon the scene of the last preparations for Honotonka regatta promised as fine a day as heart could wish. There was a good breeze from early morning. This was fine for the catboat races and for the sailing canoes. Yet the breeze was not too strong, and there was not much "sea." This latter fact made the paddling less difficult. The camps on Gannet Island and at Green Knoll were deserted soon after breakfast. The Busters took their canoes aboard the _Happy Day_, while Mr. Lavine's launch, the _Sissy Radcliffe_, carried the girls' canoes as well as the girls themselves. They were two merry boatloads, and the boats themselves were strung with banners and pennants. As they shot up the sunlit lake they sighted many other craft headed toward Braisely Park, for some contestants had come from as far away as the Forge, at the head of the Wintinooski. Suddenly Wyn, looking through the camp spyglass, recognized the patched sail of the _Coquette_, the little catboat in which Polly Jarley had come to the rescue of the two members of the Go-Ahead Club on that memorable day. "Polly is aboard," she told Frank Cameron, passing the glass to her friend. "But who is the boy with her?" "That's no boy!" declared the sharp-eyed Frankie. "Why! he's got a mustache." "It's never Mr. Jarley himself?" exclaimed Wyn, in surprise. "That's exactly who it is." "I didn't think they'd both leave the landing at the same time. Do you suppose they have entered the _Coquette_ in the free-for-all catboat race?" "I shouldn't wonder. She's a fast boat if she _is_ old and lubberly-looking. And Dr. Shelton has offered twenty-five dollars for the winning boat." "It takes two to work a catboat properly, too. That is the understanding," said Wyn, thoughtfully: "a crew of two." "Hope they win the race!" declared Frank, generously. "So do I. And they've got Polly's birch canoe aboard. She will enter for the girls' canoe race, I am sure." "All right," said Frank. "If you don't win the prize in _that_, my dear, then I hope Polly does." "Why, I haven't a chance beside Bess, I am sure."