as nobody belonged except
those who had been invited by Dick, his prospects did not seem very
bright. Great then was his delight when one day at recess, Dick came up
to him and said in his most winning way:

"Say, Bert, don't you want to join my cricket club? I'd like to have you
in."

Bert did not take long to answer.

"And I'd like to join ever so much," he replied, in great glee.

"All right, then; consider yourself a member, and come round to the
field behind our house this afternoon. We practise there every day."

Bert was fairly dancing with joy. Yet he did not forget his friend
Frank. If Frank were not a member of the club, too, half the pleasure of
it would be gone. So before Dick went off, he ventured to say:

"Frank Bowser would like to belong, too, I know. Won't you ask him?"

"Certainly. No objection at all," replied Dick, in an off-hand way.
"Bring him along with you this afternoon."

With beaming face, Bert rushed over to where Frank was busy playing
marbles, and drawing him aside, shouted rather than whispered in his
ear:

"I've got something splendid to tell you. Dick Wilding has asked us both
to join his cricket club, and we're to go to his field this very
afternoon."

"You don't say so!" exclaimed Frank, his face now beaming as brightly as
Bert's. "Isn't that just splendid! I wanted to belong to that club ever
so much, but was afraid Dick wouldn't ask me."

They had a capital game of cricket that afternoon in the Wilding field,
which made a very good ground indeed, and not only that afternoon, but
for many afternoons as spring passed into summer and the days grew
longer and warmer. Bert told them at home about the club, but somehow
omitted to mention the prominent part Dick Wilding played in it. In
fact, he never mentioned his name at all, nor that it was his father's
field in which the club met. This was the first step in a path of wrong,
the taking of which was soon to lead to serious consequences.

His reason for suppressing Dick Wilding's name was plain enough. He knew
that in all probability it would put an end to his connection with the
club. Now this club had every attraction for a boy like Bert that such
an organisation could possibly possess. It was select and exclusive, for
none could belong except those who were invited by Dick. The field was a
lovely place to play in, and they had it all to themselves. The balls
and bats and stumps were first-class, a fine set of cricket gear