ending to
what had been a great anxiety. Fred, too, was most uproariously
delighted, and I should think that some of the people, who seem to
think that the pavilion at Lord's is a kind of cathedral, must have
decided that the Oxford XI. had suddenly gone mad. But I disentangled
myself after a time from men who wanted to congratulate me, and started
sending telegrams. I was guilty at that moment of trying to think of
people to whom I could telegraph with decency, but I had wanted to play
against Cambridge very much. We had been beaten in all the last three
matches, and as Fred had never really played well at Lord's, I think
some men were inclined to say that he was not anything like as good a
cricketer as he was supposed to be. But in this match he settled that
question once and for ever. We went in first and started terribly,
Henderson was caught at the wicket, and another man was bowled before
we had made a run. I could not have smiled at the best joke in the
world. Then Fred and a left-hander got well set, and before we had
finished our total was over 350. Fred never gave a chance until he had
made well over a hundred, and though some men told me that he was out
l.b.w. at least four times, there are always plenty of people who think
that they know more than the umpires.

The Cambridge men failed in the first innings, and I only bowled six
overs, which annoyed my mother and Nina, because they said that I was
there to bowl. But after Cambridge went in again they played an uphill
game most splendidly, and my people had plenty of opportunity to see me
bowl. I got four men out, and Henderson was very pleased with me, but
I was not a first-class bowler, though I tried hard to look like one.
We had nearly two hundred runs to win, and I confess that I was afraid
that I might have to go in when there were two or three runs still
wanted. In the first innings my efforts as a batsman had been brief
and glorious, I had received three balls, two of which I had hit to the
boundary and the third I meant to go to the same place, only somebody
caught it. I hoped sincerely that my part in the 'Varsity match was
over, but whenever a wicket fell I had a very bad moment. I did not,
however, have to make that long journey from the pavilion to the
wickets again, for Henderson, who kept himself back in the second
innings, played beautifully, and we won with some wickets in hand. I
don't want to forget the wholesome thrill whic