The Phi Sigma Tau were seated in one end of the second wagon, with the exception of Grace, who had perched herself on the driver’s seat, and was holding an animated conversation with the driver, old Jerry Flynn, whom every one knew and liked.  Grace always cultivated old Jerry’s acquaintance whenever she had the chance.  To-day he was allowing her to drive, while, with folded hands, he directed her management of the lines.  Grace was in her element and gave a sigh of regret as they sighted the park.  “I could go on driving four horses forever, Mr. Flynn,” she exclaimed.  “Do let me drive going back?”

“Sure yez can, miss,” said the good-natured Irishman, “and it’s meself’ll hellup yez, and show yez how to do it.”

The committee on entertainment had provided a series of races and contests for the morning.  After lunch there would be a tennis match, and then the girls could amuse themselves as they chose; the start home to be made about six o’clock.

Grace and Nora decided to enter the hundred-yard dash.  “The prize is a box of stationery bought at the ten-cent store, so I am anxious to win it,” Nora informed them.  “In fact, all the prizes came from that useful and overworked place.  I was on the purchasing committee.”

“I shall enter the one-legged race.  I always could stand on one foot like a crane,” announced Jessica, “and hopping is my specialty.”

There was an egg and spoon race, a walking match, an apple-eating contest, with the apples suspended by strings from the low branch of a tree, to be eaten without aid from the hands, and various other stunts of a similar nature.

The morning passed like magic.  Each new set of contestants seemed funnier than the preceding one.  Nora won the coveted box of stationery.  Jessica ably demonstrated her ability to outhop her competitors, while Eva Allen covered herself with glory in the apple contest.

Grace, after losing the hundred-yard dash, laughingly refused to enter the other contests.  “I mean to win at tennis this afternoon,” she said, “so I’m not going to waste my precious energy on such little stunts.”

After the midday luncheon had been disposed of, the entire class repaired to the tennis court at the east end of the park.  A match had been arranged in which Grace and Miriam Nesbit were to play against Ruth Deane and Edna Wright, who was an indefatigable tennis player, and therefore figured frequently in tennis matches held in Oakdale.  At the last minute, however, Edna pleaded a severe headache and recommended Eleanor in her place.

“But I never have played with her,” protested Ruth Deane, “and how do I know whether she can play?”

“Try her,” begged Edna.  “I have played with her and she is a wonder.”

It was with considerable surprise and some misgiving that Grace discovered that Eleanor was to play.  “I seem fated to oppose her,” Grace thought.  “I wonder at her consenting to play against us.  I’ll keep my eye on her, at any rate, for I don’t trust her.”