"sport's week" had begun at the shore club. the excitement of it gripped the lee family. each talked of the game in which he or she was most interested and no one listened to the other. barbara, with an absorbed air, mentally played the shots she would make when on friday she would meet in the final round of match play for the championship title her old foe, carol day. peggy had no thought for anything but the swimming contest. mr. lee was chairman of the committee on arrangements and spent most of his time at the telephone. mrs. lee did her part in the decorating of the club-house and went about with her arms full of gay bunting and her mouth full of pins.
and keineth shared the excitement! for she had qualified in the children's tennis tournament and would play in the doubles and had drawn billy for her partner!
it was her first real contest! secretly she shivered with fright but outwardly tried to appear calm like peggy. all the day before the tennis matches began she went about with her racquet in her hand as though to accustom her trembling fingers to its hold.
though billy, since the day he had tried to make keineth confide in him the story of her father's absence, had maintained toward her a scornful indifference, he had accepted her as a partner because there was no alternative. but he managed to convey to her that he considered it an unfair indignity that he should be so handicapped. and he talked entirely of the paddling races.
however, keineth could not be discouraged. in her mind was one thought only--they must win! for, each day, in her room she was writing a careful account of all that happened to send to her daddy, and failure could have no part in the story.
and in the very first match they defeated molly sawyer and joe gary!
margaret dale, playing with charlie myers had, after a hard game, beaten grace schuyler and merton day. then keineth and billy played against them. it was a close match; the courts were circled by an interested crowd of onlookers. though billy had had to play with all his skill to meet charlie myers' strength of volley, he knew that keineth had more than done her part, too.
"she played way over her head," he answered sullenly to the praise his family bestowed upon her.
one more set put them in the final match against jim downer and his sister helen. a taste of victory had given to keineth a poise that steadied her in her game; this matching of strength, skill and quickness--something she had never known before--had developed a surprising confidence in herself. her joy was not in the defeat of their opponents, rather in her own mastery of all those things which for so long she had been trying to learn!
"good luck to you, kiddies," mr. lee had said to them at the breakfast table. "play your best and then you won't mind if you are defeated. and if the other fellows play better, don't think up any excuses--it's something to be good losers!"
in the brief moment of waiting before the final match began, keineth, standing quietly near the courts, thought how different she was from the funny little girl who had come to overlook two months before. she knew now what her father had meant when he had told her that that old life, with him and tante in the old house, had cheated her out of the other things children had. he had been right he would be pleased, now, to know the part she was taking with the others.
the judges called the match; keineth caught her breath and ran on to the court. she gave one whispered word to billy.
"we've got to win!"
billy had not enjoyed keineth's sudden rise into fame. he felt less tolerant and the old grudge flamed into being. if they won now--and everyone said they would--they'd all think it was keineth that had won it. they'd make an awful fuss over her--they always did over girls--and there'd be no living with either her or peggy. he could throw the game, just fall down on one or two returns and no one would know the difference! he felt very sure of winning the paddling races and what did he care about the tennis match, anyway?--it'd be different if they were the real matches, but they were just for children. these thoughts ran through his mind as he swung his racquet backward and forward in the air, a heavy scowl wrinkling his face.
and keineth's confident "we've got to win" had been the last drop in his cup of annoyance.
the first two games were slow, a little volleying and a good many "outs." someone called from the gallery, "warm up!" keineth threw her head back with an answering smile, for she recognized mr. lee's voice.
their opponents won the third game against a thirty. that spurred keineth; the fourth game was faster with some hot volleying and pretty returns and won by keineth and billy in a quickly mounting score. excited, keineth did not notice that billy had not returned one or two balls with his usual skill.
the next, a deuce game, was hotly contested. her face ablaze with interest, keineth held her little body tensely poised on one toe, ready for instant action. the faces of the crowd around her blurred into nothing--there seemed only left in her small world those two beyond the net!
the next game was bewildering. keineth played desperately, but they had only won thirty points when the others made the game! the set stood four to two in keineth's favor, but their opponents were playing stronger with each game.
in the seventh game billy dropped off shamelessly. he was never quite ready. before keineth realized the situation the others had won and won easily!
"billy!" keineth whispered imploringly. the indifferent look on billy's face struck terror to her heart. what was the matter with him?
the next game keineth won alone--if billy could not play she'd play for him! her little teeth, clenched tight together, gleamed white through her parted lips. the crimson of her cheeks mounted into her fair hair.
"what a picture!" mrs. lee whispered to her husband. she was not thinking of the game at all. "what a spirit! think, william, what that can mean in this world when the child's grown up!"
"that's just why this sort of sport is good for them," mr. lee whispered back. "but what is the matter with billy?"
that is what keineth wondered, too. they had won five games--they must win the next and set! walking close to billy she confronted him, her face ablaze. for just a moment they looked hard into one another's eyes; not a boy and girl, the one proudly conscious of his boyhood and two years' difference in age, the other a very young and all-admiring girl--but just two mortals contesting together against two others.
and at last they, keineth and billy, met on equal ground--keineth had proven her mettle--let billy show his! keineth's clear, straightforward gaze made billy drop his eyes in sudden shame.
"play square," she said sternly. and billy played square! their opponents had not a chance!
"well, billy did wake up," some one said and some one else added: "if they'd lost it would have been his fault. that randolph girl played a corking game for her age!"
they had won the tennis tournament! keineth did not enjoy half so much the silver cup they placed in her hands as she did peggy's delight and mr. lee's hearty handclasp of congratulation. the young people carried them off to luncheon at the club-house, where they made merry far into the afternoon.
that evening billy, with a very serious face, approached his father, where he sat alone on the veranda.
"dad, i've withdrawn my name from the paddle races!"
"what's wrong, son?"
"i'm not a good sport--that's why," billy answered with his usual frankness. "i had a sort of grudge against keineth because she wouldn't tell me about her father and i'd vowed to get even and i just laid down on that tennis game--until she made me ashamed!"
"but she did make you ashamed, billy?"
"yes--she told me to play square and i just thought then that no one would ever have to tell me to play square more than once!"
mr. lee laid his arm across the boy's shoulder.
"laddie--these games we play teach us a lot, don't they? there is something in them more than fun and more than the health they give! you've learned a motto to-day that you can pin on your shield when you go out to meet the other matches life offers!"
"you can just bet i'll always try to play square! and i'm going now to find ken and tell her she's a brick!"
mr. lee watched the boy disappear. though a smile hovered about his lips, his eyes were serious--the cigar between his fingers had quite gone out.
"may he keep that spirit all through life," he was thinking.
