'll be able to bowl to me. How long are you
staying?"

"Till to-night," I said quickly.

"Rot! You're fixed up here till Tuesday any how."

"My dear Dick, I've come down for a few days' rest. If the weather
permits, I may have the croquet things out one afternoon and try a round,
or possibly--"

"I don't believe you _can_ bowl," said Bobby rudely. Bobby is
twelve--five years younger than Dick. It is not my place to smack Bobby's
head, but _somebody_ might do it for him.

"Then that just shows how little you know about it," I retorted. "In a
match last September I went on to bowl--"

"Why?"

"I knew the captain," I explained. "Well, as I say, he asked me to go on
to bowl, and I took four wickets for thirteen runs. There!"

"Good man," said Dick.

"Was it against a girls' school?" said Bobby. (You know, Bobby is simply
_asking_ for it.)

"It was not. Nor were children of twelve allowed in without their
perambulators."

"Well, anyhow," said Bobby, "I bet Phyllis can bowl better than you."

"Is this true?" I said to Phyllis. I asked her, because in a general way
my bowling is held to be superior to that of girls of fifteen. Of course,
she might be something special.

"I can bowl Bobby out," she said modestly.

I looked at Bobby in surprise and then shook my head sadly.

"You jolly well shut up," he said, turning indignantly to his sister.
"Just because you did it once when the sun was in my eyes--"

"Bobby, Bobby," I said, "this is painful hearing. Let us be thankful that
we don't have to play against girls' schools. Let us--"

But Bobby was gone. Goaded to anger, he had put his hands in his pockets
and made the general observation "Rice-pudding"--an observation
inoffensive enough to a stranger, but evidently of such deep, private
significance to Phyllis that it was necessary for him to head a pursuit
into the shrubbery without further delay.

"The children are gone," I said to Dick. "Now we can discuss the
prospects for the season in peace." I took up "The Sportsman" again. "I
see that Kent is going to--"

"The prospects are all right," said Dick, "if only I can get into form
soon enough. Last year I didn't get going till the end of June. By the
way, what sort of stuff do you bowl?"

"Ordinary sort of stuff," I said, "with one or two bounces in it. Do you
see that Surrey--"

"Fast or slow?"

"Slow--that is, you know, when I _do_ bowl at all. I'm not quite sure
this season whether I hadn't bett