CROQUET
PROLOGUE
"I hear you're very good at croquet," said my hostess.
"Oh, well," I said modestly. (The fact is I can beat them all at home.)
"We have the North Rutland champion staying with us. He's very keen on a game. Now then, how can we manage?"
This was terrible. I must put it off somehow.
"Is there a north to Rutland," I began argumentatively. "I always thought——"
"Yes, I see. He shall play with Jane against you and Miss Middleton. By the way, let me introduce you all."
We bowed to each other for a bit, and then I had another shock. The N.R. champion's mallet was bound with brass at each end (in case he wanted to hit backwards suddenly) and had a silver plate on it. Jane's had the brass only. It was absurd that they should play together.
I drew Miss Middleton on one side.
"I say," I began nervously, "I'm frightfully sorry, but I quite forgot to bring my mallet. Will it matter very much?"
"I haven't one either."
"You know, when my man was packing my bag, I particularly said to him, 'Now, don't forget to put in a mallet.' He said, 'Shall I put the spare one in too, sir, because the best one's sprung a bit?'"
"Oh, I've never had one of my own. I suppose when one is really good——"
"Well, to tell you the truth, I've never had one either. We're fairly in for it now."
"Never mind, we'll amuse ourselves somehow, I expect."
"Oh, I'm quite looking forward to it."
CHAPTER I
They kicked off from the summer-house end, and, after jockeying for the start a bit, the N.R. champion got going. He went very slowly but very surely. I watched anxiously for ten minutes, expecting my turn every moment. After a quarter of an hour I raised my hat and moved away.
"Shall we sit down?" I said to Miss Middleton.
"We shall be in the way if we sit down here, sha'n't we?"
"Outside that chalk line we're safe?"
"I—I suppose so."
We moved outside and sat down on the grass.
"I never even had a chalk line," I said mournfully.
"It's much more fun without."
"You know," I went on, "I can beat them all at home. Why even Wilfrid——"
"It's just the same with me," said Miss Middleton. "Hilda did win once by a frightful fluke, but——"
"But this is quite different. At home it would be considered jolly bad form to go on all this time."
"One would simply go in and leave them," said Miss Middleton.
"You know, it's awful fun at home. The lawn goes down in terraces, and if you hit the other person's ball hard enough you can get it right down to the bottom; and it takes at least six to get back on the green again."
Miss Middleton gurgled to herself.
"We've got a stream ... round our lawn," she said, in gasps. "It's such a joke ... and once ... when Hilda..."
CHAPTER II
"May I call you 'Mary?'" I said; "we're still here."
"Well, we have known each other a long time, certainly," said Miss Middleton. "I think you might."
"Thanks very much."
"What hoop is he at?"
"He's just half-way."
"I suppose, when he's finished, then, Jane does it all?"
"It practically comes to that. I believe, as a matter of form, I am allowed a shot in between."
"That won't make any difference, will it?"
"No...."
"It's awfully hot, isn't it?"
"Yes.... Do you bicycle much?"
"No.... Do you?"
"No. I generally sleep in the afternoons."
"Much the best thing to do. Good-night."
"Good-night."
CHAPTER III
"Wake up," I said. "You've been asleep for hours. Jane is playing now."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Mary, still with her eyes closed. "Then I missed your turn. Was it a good one?"
"Absolutely splendid. I had a very long shot, and hit the champion. Then I took my mallet in both hands, brought it well over the shoulder—are you allowed to do that, by the way?"
"Yes, it's hockey where you mustn't."
"And croqueted him right down to the house—over beds, through bushes, across paths—the longest ball I've ever driven."
"I hope you didn't make him very cross. You see, he may not be used to our game."
"Cross? My dear girl, he was fairly chuckling with delight. Told me I'd missed the rest of my turn. It seems that if you go over two beds, and across more than one path, you miss the rest of your turn. Did you know that?"
"I suppose I did really, but I'd forgotten."
"And here I am again. Jane will be even longer. He's lying on the grass, and taking sights for her just now.... Why didn't you answer my last letter?"
CHAPTER IV
"It's this passion for games," I said, waking up suddenly, "which has made us Englishmen what we are. Here we have a hot July afternoon, when all Nature is at peace, and the foreigner is taking his siesta. And what do we do? How do we English men and women spend this hot afternoon? Why, immediately after lunch, in one case even before the meal has been digested, we rush off to take part in some violent game like croquet. Hour after hour the play goes on relentlessly; there is no backing out on our part, no pleading for just five minutes in which to get our wind. No, we bear our part manfully, and—— Are you awake by any chance, or am I wasting all this?"
"Of course I'm awake," said Mary, opening her eyes.
"What years I have known you! Do you remember those days when we used to paddle together—the mixed paddling at Brighton?"
"Ah, yes. And your first paint-box."
"And your doll——"
"And the pony——"
"And the—good-night."
"G'night."
CHAPTER XVIII
"But how absurd," said Mary, "when we've only just met."
"Oh, but come; it was about two years ago that you let me call you 'Mary.'"
"True," said Mary thoughtfully.
"And you can't say we aren't suited to one another. We both play without the chalk line."
"So we do. Yet ... Oh, I can't say all at once. Give me a little time."
"I'll give you three of Jane's hoops. That's about six months."
CHAPTER XX
"Twenty-eight," said the North Rutland champion. "That's what I won the championship by, I remember."
"It's a good winning score," I said. "Do they play much in North Rutland?"
"I'm afraid it's been very slow for you and Miss Middleton," said Jane.
"Not exactly slow," I said.
"We've been talking a lot of nonsense," explained Miss Middleton.
"Not exactly nonsense," said I.
"Oh, it was," said Miss Middleton, "you know it was."
"I suppose it was," I sighed. "Well, we'll try again to-morrow."
"Right," said the champion. "But I shall use my other mallet."