f mine got up a bit and
took him in the ab-do-men. 'How's that?' I asked. 'Well,' said the
umpire, 'I wasn't azackly looking, so I leave it to you. If it hit en in
the paunch, it's 'not out' and the fella must have suffered. But if it
took en in the rear, I reckon it didn't hurt much, and it's 'leg-before.''
I suppose that is what you would call the 'spirit' of cricket. But, I
say, if you have such a down on Lord's and what you call the gladiatorial
business, why on earth do you go?"

"Isn't that the very question I've been asking myself?" replied Verinder
testily.

"Perhaps we have an explanation here," I suggested; for during Verinder's
harangue I had settled myself in the window-seat, and was turning over the
pages of Prince Ranjitsinhji's book.

"'It is a grand thing for people who have to work most of their time
to have an interest in something or other outside their particular
groove. Cricket is a first-rate interest. The game has developed to
such a pitch that it is worth taking interest in. Go to Lord's and
analyse the crowd. There are all sorts and conditions of men there
round the ropes--bricklayers, bank-clerks, soldiers, postmen, and
stockbrokers. And in the pavilion are Q.C.'s, artists, archdeacons,
and leader-writers. . . .'"

"Oh, come!" Grayson puts in. "Isn't that rather hard on the stockbroker?"

"It is what the book says.

"'Bad men, good men, workers and idlers, all are there, and all at one
in their keenness over the game. . . . Anything that puts very many
different kinds of people on a common ground must promote sympathy
and kindly feelings. The workman does not come away from seeing
Middlesex beating Lancashire, or vice versa, with evil in his heart
against the upper ten; nor the Mayfair _homme de plaisir_ with a
feeling of contempt for the street-bred masses. Both alike are
thinking how well Mold bowled, and how cleanly Stoddart despatched
Briggs's high-tossed slow ball over the awning. Even that cynical
_nil admirari_ lawyer--'"

I pointed a finger at Verinder.

"'Even that cynical _nil admirari_ lawyer caught himself cheering
loudly when Sir Timothy planted Hallam's would-be yorker into the
press-box. True, he caught himself being enthusiastic, and broke off
at once--'"

"When I found it hadn't killed a reporter," Verinder explained. "But I
hope Ranjitsinhji has