"Might! but you are not equal to it, fair sir; only do play quickly, I am all impatience to hear our side proclaimed victorious, after Mr. Penton's contemptuous boast that his side could afford to give us odds, because, forsooth, it numbers two of the precious male sex, and ours has only one of them! But, to the proof; we are losing time!"
Mr. Caulfield made a good attempt at saving his distance, but he failed; so Helena came in in full triumph, amidst loud acclamations.
Mrs. Elton immediately proposed that they should take a stroll before their repast, which was ordered for two o'clock. If they were to drive back by Grotto Ferrata, she said, they must start, at latest, by four.
"But," objected Helena, "we have had but one game of croquet; and Mrs. Penton and Mr. Earnscliffe have not played at all! Poor Charles cannot; so it is not a matter of any interest for him."
"As for me, Helena, foregoing a game will not render me tout à fait desolée; and I think I may answer too for Mr. Earnscliffe." He bowed, and Mrs. Penton continued, "So it would be a pity to lose the beautiful drive by Grotto Ferrata for the sake of another round of croquet. It is much better to follow Mrs. Elton's suggestion."
The young lady saw that there was nothing to be done but to submit, whilst her mother said, "Come, Helena, let Thomas carry away those things. We are going to walk." And they all went on, excepting Helena, Flora, and Mr. Caulfield; the two latter waiting for Helena, as she lingered, looking, with an expression of comic resignation, at Thomas "bagging the balls," as she expressed it; then, turning away, she said with a sigh, "It is too bad not to give poor crestfallen Mr. Caulfield a chance of revenge!"
"Shure and niver mind, cushla machree," he answered, imitating the brogue of the Irish peasantry. "I'll have it some other time. Whin did you iver know an Irishman be bate in ginerosity?"
"May I ask, Mr. Caulfield, if you Irish call revenge 'ginerosity?'" she exclaimed in a mocking tone; then she added, more seriously, "Please to let us get on quickly, or we shall lose our friends; and oh, Flora, what a lecture we should get for separating ourselves from the rest!"
The party was soon overtaken; and Flora observed, to her great amusement, that Mrs. Elton had succeeded in getting Mary and Mr. Earnscliffe together.
For about half-an-hour they wandered about the grounds, when Mrs. Elton led the way to their al fresco banqueting-hall—a grassy plateau, so surrounded by trees as to be shaded from the afternoon sun; and here the servants had laid out the dinner.