search, and as the ring was about her, I was of course bound to discover it.  My reader has most likely guessed that I had some suspicion of the charming hiding-place in which the young beauty had concealed the ring, but before coming to it I wanted to enjoy myself.  The ring was at last found between the two most beautiful keepers that nature had ever rounded, but I felt such emotion as I drew it out that my hand was trembling.

“What are you trembling for?” she asked.

“Only for joy at having found the ring; you had concealed it so well!  But you owe me a revenge, and this time you shall not beat me.”

“We shall see.”

We began a new race, and seeing that she was not running very fast, I thought I could easily distance her whenever I liked.  I was mistaken.  She had husbanded her strength, and when we had run about two-thirds of the race she suddenly sprang forward at full speed, left me behind, and I saw that I had lost.  I then thought of a trick, the effect of which never fails; I feigned a heavy fall, and I uttered a shriek of pain.  The poor child stopped at once, ran back to me in great fright, and, pitying me, she assisted me to raise myself from the ground.  The moment I was on my feet again, I laughed heartily and, taking a spring forward, I had reached the goal long before her.

The charming runner, thoroughly amazed, said to me,

“Then you did not hurt yourself?”

“No, for I fell purposely.”

“Purposely?  Oh, to deceive me!  I would never have believed you capable of that.  It is not fair to win by fraud; therefore I have not lost the race.”

“Oh! yes, you have, for I reached the goal before you.”

“Trick for trick; confess that you tried to deceive me at the start.”

“But that is fair, and your trick is a very different thing.”

“Yet it has given me the victory, and

     “Vincasi per fortund o per ingano,
     Il vincer sempre fu laudabil cosa"...

“I have often heard those words from my brother, but never from my father.  Well, never mind, I have lost.  Give your judgment now, I will obey.”

“Wait a little.  Let me see.  Ah! my sentence is that you shall exchange your garters for mine.”

“Exchange our garters!  But you have seen mine, they are ugly and worth nothing.”

“Never mind.  Twice every day I shall think of the person I love, and as nearly as possible at the same hours you will have to think of me.”

“It is a very pretty idea, and I like it.  Now I forgive you for having deceived me.  Here are my ugly garters!  Ah! my dear deceiver, how beautiful yours are!  What a handsome present!  How they will please my mother!  They must be a present which you have just received, for they are quite new.”

“No, they have not been given to me.  I bought them for you, and I have been racking my brain to find how I could make you accept them.  Love suggested to me the idea of making them the prize of the race.  You may now imagine my sorrow when I saw that you would win.  Vexation inspired me with a deceitful stratagem which arose from a feeling you had caused yourself, and which turned entirely to your honour, for you must admit that you would have shewn a very hard heart if you had not come to my assistance.”