Then he'll sit down, and that's where
we'll slip in, covered by the thunder of applause."
He divided a grin between us and a couple of assistants who had been
hanging up our coats and now came forward.
"To tell you the truth, Sir Roderick, our candidate wants
strengthening a bit, for platform purposes; though they tell me he's
improving steadily. The kinder of you to come, sir, and help us.
As for Jenkinson, he's the popular pet over here, as a speaker or
when he comes across to play at the Oval. As a cricketer yourself,
Sir Roderick, you'll know what Jenkinson does with his summer?"
"Certainly," said I. "Being on the Committee of the M.C.C.--"
"You don't mean to say that it's Jenko?" Jimmy chipped in.
"You don't tell me it's our long left and left-handed Jenko, that has
bowled me at the nets a hundred times?--alas, poor Jenko!"
"Why, of course, it is," said I. "Didn't you know? . . . How the
deuce else do you suppose that a cricket pro. supports himself during
the winter?"
"I'd never thought of that," said Jimmy. "One half of the world
never knows how the other half lives.
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