“Just a change, darling. Besides, it used to be red. Not too red, you know; coppery, like a new penny.”
“Why shouldn’t I have mine dyed, too?” asked Robin. “I’ll have it dyed emerald green, I think. We should be a pretty pair.”
“Do, darling, and we might give an acrobatic performance as the Polychromatic Linnets. Don’t talk such nonsense, but tell me exactly all about yourself. Are you playing cricket for Cambridge?”
“Rather not. There came a day after which I didn’t make a run.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Robin. I know you wanted to,” said she. “And to think that I spent a whole hour at Lord’s the other day, in order to try to understand what it was all about.”
“Any success?”
“No, dear, not a particle. It seemed to me the most confused thing I ever saw. Everyone kept walking about every minute or two. Why did they do that? And if I made the rules, the man who hit the ball away would have to go and fetch it.”
Robin pondered over this remarkable innovation.
“Certainly it sounds fairer,” he admitted, “but, then it wouldn’t be the same game.”
“I thought that would be such an advantage. But I was determined to understand something about it, if you were going to play for Cambridge. I was going to Lord’s again this week.”