Jolly Sally Pendleton; Or the Wife Who Was Not a Wife Read online

  She had turned suddenly to the window, and seemed to forget hisquestion.

  No one knew what a depth of passion there was in the heart of this girl.If any one should have asked her what she craved most on earth, shewould have replied, on the spur of the moment--"Love!"

  CHAPTER III.

  THE TERRIBLE WAGER AT THE GREAT RACE.

  A month had gone by since the two sisters had met the one man who was tochange the whole course of their lives.

  Louise Pendleton made no secret of her interest in handsome JayGardiner. She built no end of air-castles, all dating from the time whenthe young man should propose to her.

  She set out deliberately to win him. Sally watched with bated breath.

  There could be no love where there was such laughing, genial friendshipas existed between Louise and handsome Jay. No, no! If she set about itin the right way, _she_ could win him.

  As for Jay himself, he preferred dark-eyed Louise to her dashing,golden-haired sister Sally.

  The climax came when he asked the girls, and also their father andmother, to join a party on his tally-ho and go to the races.

  Both dressed in their prettiest, and both looked like pictures.

  The races at Lee were always delightful affairs. Some of the finesthorses in the country were brought there to participate in theseaffairs.

  As a usual thing, Jay Gardiner entered a number of his best horses; buton this occasion he had not done so. Louise declared that it would havemade the races all the more worth seeing had some of his horses beenentered.

  "Don't you think so, Sally?" she said, turning to her sister, with a gaylittle laugh; but Sally had not even heard, she was thinking so deeply.

  "She is anticipating the excitement," said Mrs. Pendleton, noddingtoward Sally; and they all looked in wonder at the unnatural flush onthe girl's cheeks and the strange, dazzling brightness in her blueeyes.

  They would have been startled if they could have read the thoughts thathad brought them there.

  There was the usual crush of vehicles, for the races at Lee always drewout a large crowd.

  Jay Gardiner's box was directly opposite the judge's stand, and thegroup of ladies and gentlemen assembled in it was a very merry one,indeed.

  Every seat in the grand stand was occupied. Both Louise and Sally werein exuberant spirits.

  It was the first race which they had ever attended, and, girl-like, theywere dying with curiosity to see what it would be like.

  "Which horse have _you_ picked for the winner?" asked Mr. Pendleton,leaning over and addressing Jay.

  "Either General or Robin Adair. Both seem to stand an equal chance.Well, I declare!" exclaimed Gardiner, in the same breath, "if thereisn't Queen Bess! It's laughable to see _her_ entered for the race.She's very speedy, but she isn't game. I have seen her swerve whenalmost crowned with victory."

  Sally Pendleton listened to the conversation with unusual interest.

  In a few moments all the riders, booted and spurred, came hurrying outfrom their quarters in response to the sharp clang of a bell, and in atrice had mounted their horses, and were waiting the signal to start.

  The interest of the great crowd was at its height. They were discussingtheir favorites freely.

  The buzz of voices was deafening for a moment.

  No one noticed Sally, not even Louise or her mother, as she leaned overbreathlessly, and said:

  "Which horse do _you_ think is going to win, Mr. Gardiner?"

  "I have no hesitancy in saying Robin Adair," he declared. "He haseverything in his favor."

  "I have an idea that the little brown horse with the white stockingswill win."

  He laughed, and a look indicative of superior judgment broke over hisface.

  "I feel very sure that your favorite, Queen Bess, will lose, MissSally," he said.

  "I feel very confident that she will win," she said.

  He shook his head.

  "I should like to make a wager with you on that," she cried.

  "A box of candy--anything you like," he replied, airily; "but I mustwarn you that it is not quite the correct thing to wager with a lady,especially when you are sure that she will lose."

  "I'll take my chances," she replied, a strange look flashing into herexcited blue eyes.

  "You have not told me what the wager is to be."

  For a moment the girl caught her breath and gave a lightning-like glanceabout her. No one was listening, no one would hear.

  "You have not told me," said Jay Gardiner, gallantly, as he bentforward.

  She turned and faced him, and her answer came in an almost inaudiblewhisper. But he heard it, though he believed he had not heard aright.

  "Do I understand you to say that your hand is the wager?" he asked,surprisedly.

  "Yes!" she answered.

  For a moment he looked at her in the utmost astonishment. Then a laughsuffused his fair face. Surely this was the strangest wager that he hadever heard of. He was used to the jolly larks of girls; but surely thiswas the strangest of them all. He knew that there was little hope ofQueen Bess winning the race. But he answered, with the utmost gravity:

  "Very well; I accept your wager. Your hand shall be the prize, if thelittle mare wins."

  "She is so very young--only eighteen," he said to himself, "that shenever realized what she was saying. It was only a jolly, girlish prank."

  If there had been in his mind the very slightest notion that Queen Besswould win, he should have refused to accept the wager. But she surelywould not win; he was certain of that.

  So, with an amused smile, he acquiesced in the strange compact. In themidst of the talking and laughing, the horses came cantering on to thecourse.

  It was a beautiful sight, the thorough-bred horses with their coatsshining like satin, except where the white foam had specked them, asthey tossed their proud heads with eager impatience, the gay colors oftheir riders all flashing in the sunlight.

  A cheer goes up from the grand stand, then the starter takes his place,and the half-dozen horses, after some little trouble, fall intosomething like a line. There is an instant of expectancy, then the flagdrops, and away the horses fly around the circular race-track.

  For a moment it is one great pell-mell rush. On, on, they fly, likegiant grey-hounds from the leash, down the stretch of track, until theyare but specks in the distance; then on they come, thundering past thegrand stand at a maddening pace, with Robin Adair in the lead, General,Yellow Pete, and Black Daffy going like the wind at his heels, andQueen Bess--poor Queen Bess!--fully a score of yards behind.

  A mad shout goes up for Robin Adair. He looks every inch the winner,with his eyes flashing, his nostrils dilated. Every man leans forward inbreathless excitement. Even the ladies seem scarcely to breathe.Suddenly a horse stumbles, and the rider is thrown headlong. There is amoment's hush; but the horse is only an outsider, and the crowd cheerthe rest encouragingly.

  For a time they seem to run almost level, then most of the horses seemto show signs of the terrible strain. Robin Adair keeps steadily to thefore, with General closely at his heels. The rest begin to fall off.

  Again a mad shout goes up for Robin Adair.

  "No, no--General!" comes the hoarse cry from a hundred throats.

  But through it all, the wiser ones notice the gallant little mare, QueenBess, coming slowly to the front.

  Some daring voice shouts:

  "Queen Bess! Queen Bess!"

  "She is fresh as a daisy!" mutters some one in the box adjoining JayGardiner's.

  White to the lips, Sally Pendleton sits and watches, her hands claspedtightly in her lap.

  The babble of voices is so deafening that she can not hear.

  Again the gallant steeds are specks in the distance. Now they pass thecurve, and are on the home-stretch, dashing swiftly to the finish.

  Nearer and nearer sounds the thunder of their oncoming hoofs. Tenthousand people grow mad with excitement as they dash on.

  To the great surprise of the specta
tors, Queen Bess is gaining steadilyinch by inch, until she passes those before her, even the General, andthere is but a ribbon of daylight between herself and the great RobinAdair.

  The crowd goes wild with intense excitement. Nerves are thrilling asdown the stretch dashes the racers almost with the rapidity oflightning.

  The grand stand seems to rock with the excited shouts. One great cryrises from ten thousand throats. Queen Bess has reached the great RobinAdair's flanks, and inch by inch she is gaining on him. And the excitedspectators fairly hold their breath to see which horse wins.

  CHAPTER IV.

  WHICH WON?

  Never in the history of the Lee races had there been such an excitingscene as this. Jay Gardiner's face is as white as death, as, with batedbreath, he watches the two thorough-breds. Every one rises to his feetin the hope of catching a full view of the flyers.

  Which will win the race--the great Robin Adair or the gallant littleQueen Bess?

  The mad shouts are deafening.

  Suddenly they notice that Robin Adair, who has been victor in a dozensuch races, begins to show signs of distress. The foam covers his darkchest, and his eyes flash uneasily. It is all that his rider can do tourge him on with whip and spur.

  There is only one more furlong to cover. Robin Adair and little QueenBess are side by side, neck to neck, both increasing their speed withevery stride.

  Suddenly Robin, the great Robin Adair, falters ever so slightly. Theseething mass of men and women hold their breath. Then, quick as aflash, as if shot from a bow, gallant little Queen Bess passes him. Agreat cry breaks from the vast multitude of spectators. One instantlater, and the cry has deepened into a mighty yell. Little Queen Bess,with every muscle strained, passes under the wire--a winner!

  The next instant she is hidden from sight by the eager thousands who arecrowding and pushing one another to catch a glimpse of the winner. JayGardiner stands for a moment as if dumbfounded. He is hardly able tocredit the evidence of his own senses.

  "Queen Bess had won!" cried the golden-haired girl by his side, and heanswers a hoarse--"Yes."

  The girl laughs, and the sound of that laugh lingers in his memory allthe long years of his after-life.

  "And I have won!" she adds, shrilly.

  Again he answers, in that same hoarse monotone--"Yes!"

  Before he has time even to think, Sally Pendleton turns around to herfather and mother, crying triumphantly:

  "Mamma--papa, Mr. Gardiner wants me to marry him. My hand is pledged tohim; that is, if you are willing!"

  The young man's face turned as white as it would ever be in death.

  The effect of her words can better be imagined than described. Mr.Pendleton stared at his daughter as though he had not heard aright.

  Mrs. Pendleton was dumbfounded. And Louise--poor Louise!--to her itseemed as if life had ended for her.

  Mr. Pendleton recovered himself in an instant. He had been quite surethat Mr. Gardiner preferred his elder daughter Louise to his youngerdaughter, merry, rollicking Sally.

  "I am sure, I am very well pleased," he said, heartily extending hishand to Mr. Gardiner. "Certainly I give my consent, in which my wifejoins me."

  Jay Gardiner's face flushed. He could not make a scene by refusing toaccept the situation. He took the proffered hand. Mrs. Pendleton rose tothe occasion.

  "If he prefers Sally, that is the end of it as far as Louise isconcerned. Sally had better have him than for the family to lose him andall his millions," she thought, philosophically.

  Jay Gardiner's friends congratulated the supposedly happy lovers. Louisespoke no word; it seemed to her as though the whole world had suddenlychanged; her golden day-dreams had suddenly and without warning beendispelled.

  During that homeward ride, Jay Gardiner was unusually quiet. His brainseemed in a whirl--the strange event of the afternoon seemed like atroubled dream whose spell he could not shake off, do what he would.

  He looked keenly at the girl by his side. Surely she did not realize theextent of the mischief she had done by announcing their betrothal.

  It was not until he had seen his party home and found himself alone atlast in his boarding-house that he gave full rein to his agitatedthoughts.

  It was the first time in the life of this debonair young millionairethat he had come face to face with a disagreeable problem.

  Gay, jolly Sally Pendleton, with her flashing get-up--a combination ofstrangely unnatural canary-yellow hair, pink cheeks and lips, andfloating, rainbow-hued ribbons--jarred upon his artistic tastes.

  He did not admire a girl who went into convulsions of laughter, as Sallydid, at everything that was said and done. In fact, he liked her lesseach time he saw her. But she was young--only eighteen--and she might,in time, have a little more sense, he reflected.

  What should he do? He looked at the matter in every light; but,whichever way he turned, he found no comfort, no way out of the dilemma.

  If he were to explain to the world that the engagement was only theoutcome of a thoughtless wager, his friends would surely censure him fortrying to back out; they would accuse him of acting the part of acoward. He could not endure the thought of their taking that view of it.All his friends knew his ideas concerning honor, particularly where alady was concerned.

  And now he was in honor bound to fulfill his part of the wager--marrySally Pendleton, whom he was beginning to hate with a hatred thatstartled even himself.

  Such a marriage would spoil his future, shipwreck his whole life, blasthis every hope. But he himself was to blame. When that hoidenish,hair-brained girl had made such a daring wager, he should have declinedto accept it; then this harvest of woe would not have to be reaped.

  Suddenly a thought, an inspiration, came to him. He would go to Sally,point out to her the terrible mistake of this hasty betrothal, and shemight release him from it.

  CHAPTER V.

  "SHALL WE BREAK THIS BETROTHAL, THAT WAS MADE ONLY IN FUN?"

  The thought was like an inspiration to Jay Gardiner. He would go toSally and ask her to break this hateful engagement; and surely she wouldbe too proud to hold him to a betrothal from which he so ardentlydesired to be set free.

  The following day he put his plan into execution. It was early in theafternoon when he entered the hotel, and going at once to thereception-room, he sent up his card. He had not long to wait for MissSally. He had scarcely taken two or three turns across the floor ere shefloated into the room with both hands outstretched, an eager smile onher red lips.

  He took one of the outstretched hands, bowed ever it coldly, and hastilydropped it.

  "I was expecting you this afternoon," said Sally, archly, pretending notto notice his constraint, "and here you are at last."

  "Miss Pendleton," he began, stiffly, "would you mind getting your hatand taking a little stroll with me? I have something to talk over withyou, and I do not wish all those people on the porch, who are listeningto us even now, to hear."

  "I would be delighted," answered Sally. "Come on. My hat is right outthere on a chair on the veranda."

  He followed her in silence. It was not until they were some littledistance from the hotel that he found voice to speak.

  "You say you want to talk to your betrothed," laughed the girl, with atoss of her yellow curls; "but you have maintained an unbroken silencefor quite a time."

  "I have been wondering how to begin speaking of the subject which weighsso heavily on my mind, and I think the best way is to break right intoit."

  "Yes," assented Sally; "so do I."

  "It is about our betrothal," he began, brusquely. "I want to ask you aplain, frank question, Miss Pendleton, and I hope you will be equally asfrank with me; and that is, do you consider what you are pleased to callyour betrothal to me, and which I considered at the time only a girlishprank, actually binding?"

  He stopped short in the wooded path they were treading, and looked hergravely in the face--a look that forced an answer. She was equal to theoccasion.

  "Of cours
e I do, Mr. Gardiner," she cried, with a jolly little laughthat sounded horrible in his ears. "And wasn't it romantic? Just likeone of those stories one reads in those splendid French novels, Ilaughed----"

  "Pray be serious, Miss Pendleton," cut in Gardiner, biting his lipfiercely to keep back an angry retort. "This is not a subject formerriment, I assure you, and I had hoped to have a sensible conversationwith you concerning it--to show each of us a way out of it, if that ispossible."

  "I do not wish to be set free, as you phrase it, Mr. Gardiner," sheanswered, defiantly. "I am perfectly well pleased to have matters justas they are, I assure you."

  His face paled; the one hope which had buoyed him up died suddenly inhis heart.

  Sally Pendleton's face flushed hotly; her eyes fell.

  "I will try to win your liking," she replied.

  "It is a man's place to win," he said, proudly; "women should be won,"he added, with much emphasis. "When two people marry without love, theymust run all the risk such a union usually incurs."

  "Pardon me, but I may as well speak the truth; you are the last girl onearth whom I could love. It grieves me to wound you, but it is only justthat you should know the truth. _Now_ will you insist upon carrying outthe contract?"

  "As I have told you from the start, my answer will always be the same."

  "We will walk back to the hotel," he said, stiffly.

  She rose from the mossy log and accompanied him without another word. Atlast he broke the silence.