Harvey reluctantly departed.  Beth immediately went to work and made another.  When once it was in the oven, she watched it so carefully that Maggie feared it would be spoiled by overzeal.  For a wonder, it was a great success.  A professional cook could not have made a better-looking cake.

By this time, it was growing so late that Beth did not wait to make frosting.

She took her dress and cake over to the Fair building, which was about a quarter of a mile from her home.  She was in plenty of time to make her entries.

Dollie was grazing in the pasture when Beth returned.  This reminded her of her great desire to ride Dollie, so she called the horse to her, and she came running at the call.  Dollie was always sure of sugar from Beth.

Beth put her hand up against the horse and whispered: 

“I wish I might ride you, Dollie.  I know I could.  I’ll go and ask mamma if I may.”

Away ran Beth to her mother.

“Mamma, may I ride Dollie this morning?”

“No, dear, I’m going to use Dollie myself.  I’m going to get Mrs. Corner, who is to spend the day with me.  We are going to the races this afternoon.”

“Won’t you bring Laura back, too?”

“She probably can’t come.  She goes to school, you know.”

“Mamma, will you let me ride Dollie sometime?”

“Yes, dear, sometime, but don’t tease now.”

Beth took this as a decided promise.  She told Maggie, January, Harvey, and Julia that she was to ride Dollie; that her mamma had said so.  She did nothing but talk about the matter the whole morning.

Mrs. Davenport returned with Mrs. Corner in time for luncheon.  About two o’clock Beth ran into the library where her mother and her guest were having a cozy chat before starting for the races.  She had thought so much about her ride that she took it for granted that Mrs. Davenport must know her thoughts.

“Mamma, I’m going now.  May I?”

At this particular moment the conversation between the two women was especially absorbing so that Mrs. Davenport hardly heeded Beth.

“May I, mamma?”

Mrs. Davenport glanced towards her for a second.  She took it for granted that Beth wished to play with either Julia or Harvey.

“All right.  Run along, dear.”

In the seventh heaven of happiness, Beth skipped up-stairs.

She decided that it would never do to ride in an ordinary dress, and believed that her mother would not object if she borrowed her riding habit.  Beth knew just where to find it.  The skirt was one of those now old-fashioned affairs that almost swept the ground even on a grown-up person.

However, Beth was not to be daunted.  She heroically jumped into the skirt, but found that the belt was almost twice too large for her.  This necessitated the use of a safety pin.  She took a step towards the bureau, and fell sprawling over the floor, tangled in yards of trailing skirt.  She tried to rise, and tripped again.  For a moment, she rested on the floor, thinking to herself that it must be a much harder matter to manage a habit than a horse.  Then, gathering up the unruly skirt in both hands, she managed to reach the bureau where she pinned the skirt tightly around her.  But even now her troubles were not over.