If you
really feel that you want to scrap, for goodness' sake do it where
there's some room. I don't want all the study furniture smashed. I know
a bank whereon the wild thyme grows, only a few yards down the road,
where you can scrap all night if you want to. How would it be to move on
there? Any objections? None. Then shift ho! And let's get it over."
26
CLEARING THE AIR
Psmith was one of those people who lend a dignity to everything they
touch. Under his auspices the most unpromising ventures became somehow
enveloped in an atmosphere of measured stateliness. On the present
occasion, what would have been, without his guiding hand, a mere
unscientific scramble, took on something of the impressive formality of
the National Sporting Club.
"The rounds," he said, producing a watch, as they passed through a gate
into a field a couple of hundred yards from the house gate, "will be of
three minutes' duration, with a minute rest in between. A man who is
down will have ten seconds in which to rise. Are you ready, Comrades
Adair and Jackson? Very well, then. Time."
After which, it was a pity that the actual fight did not quite live up
to its referee's introduction.
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