o exactly what they liked
with his garden!"
To-day, however, it was so hot that even Squires, after having expressed
the opinion on the weather above mentioned, withdrew himself into the
coolest recess of his snug lodge and slept sweetly, leaving the young
gentlemen, had they been so minded, to take any liberty they liked with
"his" garden.
The young gentlemen, however, were not so minded.
They had been doing their best to play lawn tennis in the blazing sun
with two of their friends, but it was too hot to run, too hot to hit,
and far too hot to score, so the attempt had died away, and three of
them now reclined on the sloping bank under the laurel hedge, dividing
their time between lazily gazing up at the dark-blue sky and watching
the proceedings of the fourth of their party, who still remained in the
courts.
This last-mentioned youth, who, to judge by his countenance, was brother
to one of those who lolled on the bank, presented a curious contrast to
the general languor of the afternoon. Deserted by his companions in the
sport, he was relieving himself of some of his superfluous energy by the
novel diversion of playing tennis with himself. This he accomplished by
serving the ball high up in the air and then jumping the net, so as to
take it on the other side, following up his return by another leap over
the net, and so on till either he or the ball came to grief. On an
ordinary day the exertion involved in this pastime would be quite enough
for any ordinary individual, but on a day like the present, with the
thermometer at ninety in the shade, it was a trifle too much even to
watch.
"For goodness' sake shut up, Horrors," said the elder brother. "We
might as well be playing ourselves as watch you at that sort of thing."
The young gentleman addressed as Horrors was at that moment in the midst
of one of his aerial flights, and had neither leisure nor breath to
answer.
"Do you hear?" repeated the other. "If you want to keep warm, go
indoors and put on a great-coat, but don't fag us to death with that
foolery."
"Eight!" exclaimed the young athlete, scoring the number of times the
ball had crossed the net, and starting for another jump. "Shut up, Reg,
till I've done."
He soon was done. Even Horace Cruden could not keep it up for ever, and
at his tenth bound his foot caught in the net, and he came all fours on
to the court.
"There, now you're happy!" said his brother. "Now you may as well com
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