"My dear," said Jeremy, as he folded back his paper at the sporting
page, "I have some news for you. Cricket is upon us once again."
"There's a nasty cold upon Baby once again," said Mrs Jeremy. "I
hope it doesn't mean measles."
"No child of mine would ever have measles," said Jeremy confidently.
"It's beneath us." He cleared his throat and read, "'The coming
season will be rendered ever memorable by the fact that for the
first time in the history of the game--' You'll never guess what's
coming."
"Mr Jeremy Smith is expected to make double figures."
Jeremy sat up indignantly.
"Well of all the wifely things to say! Who was top of our averages
last year?"
"Plummer. Because you presented the bat to him yourself."
"That proves nothing. I gave myself a bat too, as it happens; and a
better one than Plummer's. After all, his average was only 25. Mine,
if the weather had allowed me to finish my solitary innings, would
probably have been 26."
"As it was, the weather only allowed you to give a chance to the
wicket-keeper off the one ball you had."
"I was getting the pace of the pitch," said Jeremy. "Besides, it
wasn't really a chance, because our umpire would never have given
the treasurer out first ball. There are certain little courtesies
which are bound to be observed."
"Then," said his wife, "it's a pity you don't play more often."
Jeremy got up and made a few strokes with the poker.
"One of us is rather stiff," he said. "Perhaps it's the poker. If I
play regularly this season will you promise to bring Baby to watch
me?"
"Of course we shall both come."
"And you won't let Baby jeer at me if I'm bowled by a shooter."
"She won't know what a shooter is."
"Then you can tell her that it's the only ball that ever bowls
father," said Jeremy. He put down the poker and took up a ball of
wool. "I shall probably field somewhere behind the wicket-keeper,
where the hottest drives don't come; but if I should miss a catch
you must point out to her that the sun was in father's eyes. I want
my child to understand the game as soon as possible."
"I'll tell her all that she ought to know," said his wife. "And when
you've finished playing with my wool I've got something to do with
it."
Jeremy gave himself another catch, threw the wool to his wife and
drifted out. He came back in ten minutes with his bat under his arm.
"Really, it has wintered rather well," he said, "considering that it
has been in the boot cupboard all the time. We ought to have put
some camphor in with it, or--I know there's SOMETHING you do to bats
in the winter. Anyhow, the splice is still there."
"It looks very old," said Mrs Jeremy. "Is that really your new one?"
"Yes, this is the one that played the historic innings. It has only
had one ball in its whole life, and that was on the edge. The part
of the bat that I propose to use this season will therefore come
entirely fresh to the business."
"You ought to have oiled it, Jeremy."
"Oil--that was what I meant. I'll do it now. We'll give it a good
rub down. I wonder if there's anything else it would like?"
"I think, most of all, it would like a little practice."
"My dear, that's true. It said in the paper that on the County
grounds practice was already in full swing." He made an imaginary
drive. "I don't think I shall take a FULL swing. It's so much harder
to time the ball. I say, do YOU bowl?"
"Very badly, Jeremy."
"The worse you bowl the more practice the bat will get. Or what
about Baby? Could she bowl to me this afternoon, do you think, or is
her cold too bad?"
"I think she'd better stay in to-day."
"What a pity. Nurse tells me she's left-handed, and I particularly
want a lot of that; because Little Buxted has a very hot left-hand
bowler called--"
"You don't want your daughter to be an athletic girl, do you?"
Jeremy looked at her in surprise and then sat down on the arm of her
chair.
"Surely, dear," he said gravely, "we decided that our child was
going to play for Kent?"
"Not a girl!"
"Why not? There's nothing in the rules about it. Rule 197 (B) says
that you needn't play if you don't like the Manager, but there's
nothing about sex in it. I'm sure Baby would love the Manager."
Mrs Jeremy smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Well," said Jeremy, "if nobody will bowl to me, I can at least take
my bat out and let it see the grass. After six months of boots it
will be a change for it."
He went out into the garden, and did not appear again until lunch.
During the meal he read extracts to his wife from "The Coming
Season's Prospects," and spoke cheerfully of the runs he intended to
make for the village. After lunch he took her on to the tennis lawn.
"There!" he said proudly, pointing to a cricket pitch beautifully
cut and marked with a crease of dazzling white. "Doesn't that look
jolly?"
"Heavenly," she said. "You must ask someone up to-morrow. You can
get quite good practice here with these deep banks all round."
"Yes, I shall make a lot of runs this season," said Jeremy airily.
"But, apart from practice, don't you FEEL how jolly and summery a
cricket pitch makes everything?"
Mrs Jeremy took a deep breath. "Yes, there's nothing like a bucket
of whitening to make you think of summer."
"I'm glad you think so too," said Jeremy with an air of relief,
"because I upset the bucket on the way back to the stables--just
underneath the pergola. It ought to bring the roses on like
anything."