And to me, who had by far the most exact acquaintance with the case, it was as good as a comedy to witness their curiosity regarding the whole affair.
“Laura,” said the Rector, who had been so borne onwards by the general exultation of men and things that he was breaking all his records in the way of sitting up, “Laura, is it not time you went to bed? It is after ten, I think, and that’s your usual hour.”
“Well, look here, Father,” said his daughter; “will you promise to see ’em all to bed? Please don’t leave ’em up with that awful little Toddles. Archie, Charlie, and Tom are playing against Kent on Monday, and I can see his game. You will keep your eye on ’em, won’t you, Father? Oh, and just watch James’s game as well. He’s all right in himself, you know, but when he gets with Toddles, he’s likely to be led away.”
“I never heard such aspersions in the whole course of my career,” said Toddles, taking forth a white silk handkerchief, and religiously applying it to his sorrow. “Grace, I’m overcome.”
“Don’t believe it,” said Miss Grace. “Toddles, you’re a wrong ’un, and always were.”
“Dear me,” said the Rector, “Laura, where do you find such expressions?”
“Now remember, Father,” said Miss Grace, opening the door. “Oh, and you two have got to stay. The best room in the house, too. It’s the one King Charles II. slept in after the battle of Worcester.”
“My dear girl,” said the Rector, who was evidently deeply exercised on this point, “have I not said over and over again that he did not sleep there. He could not possibly have done so.”
“Well, all I can say is,” said Miss Grace, “that, if that’s a fact, this is the only house in these parts in which King Charles II. didn’t sleep after the battle of Worcester. And that being so, I don’t see why we haven’t as much right to him as anybody else. But keep your eye on Toddles, won’t you, Father. Breakfast at half-past ten, boys. That’s when you like it, I know. Be good. Ta-ta.”
Amid a volley of “good-nights” and “ta-tas” this extremely popular young person went to bed. Loth as I am to say it, even her father did not see fit to follow her example straight away. Events had fired him. He drank the health of Charlie, and he smoked the health of Charlie as sedulously as any. In fact, no man contributed more to the general undermining of Charlie’s health than he. He told his old-time stories of the cricket field. He also told some stories that were not of the cricket field, but were not the less relished on that account. He related how on one occasion on which he was bowling he killed a swallow as it flew across the pitch. And like the thorough cricketer he was he said that fact reminded him that he took nine wickets for sixteen in that particular match.