“He’s muffed quarter-back rather this term, but I daresay he might do for one.”
“Well then, what about Braintree?”
“Too big a swell,” said Bowler.
“But he’s got a rifle at home.”
“Oh, ah! all serene. Stick him down.”
“What do you say to having them in, and talking it over before we ask any one else?”
This prudent proposition was agreed to, an extra spoonful of tea was put in the pot, and Gayford went out and conducted his guests in personally.
“The fact is,” said Gayford, after having delicately disclosed the scheme on hand, and roused his hearers to a pitch of uncomfortable curiosity, “the fact is, Bowler and I thought you two fellows might like to join us.”
“You’ll have to wait till the spring,” said Wallas, a somewhat dismal-looking specimen of humanity. “I’ve got my Oxford local in January.”
“Oh, of course, we shouldn’t start till after that,” said Gayford, ready to smooth away all obstacles.