THE JUNIOR PARTNER.


One afternoon towards the middle of April, when Maggie as usual was
flying through the woods, she paused for a moment beneath the shadow
of a sycamore while Gritty drank from a small running brook. The pony
having quenched his thirst, she gathered up her reins for a fresh
gallop, when her ear caught the sound of another horse's hoofs; and,
looking back, she saw approaching her at a rapid rate a gentleman whom
she knew to be a stranger. Not caring to be overtaken, she chirruped
to the spirited Gritty, who, bounding over the velvety turf, left the
unknown rider far in the rear.

"Who can she be?" thought the young man, admiring the utter
fearlessness with which she rode; then, feeling a little piqued, as he
saw how the distance between them was increasing, he exclaimed, "Be
she woman, or be she witch, I'll overtake her"; and, whistling to his
own fleet animal, he too dashed on at a furious rate.

"Trying to catch me, are you?" thought Maggie. "I'd laugh to see you
do it." And entering at once into the spirit of the race, she rode
on for a time with headlong speed--then, by way of tantalizing her
pursuer, she paused for a moment until he had almost reached her, when
at a peculiar whistle Gritty sprang forward, while Maggie's mocking
laugh was borne back to the discomfited young man, whose interest in
the daring girl increased each moment. It was a long, long chase she
led him, over hills, across plains, and through the grassy valley,
until she stopped at last within a hundred yards of the deep, narrow
gorge through which the mill-stream ran.