The Major [53]
win would bring neither honour nor pleasure."
"Good again, Mother. You ought to have a place on the League committee. We shall have that Scripture entered on the rules. But I must run and dress. Farwell, you can take charge of Duckworth."
But Duckworth was uneasy to be gone. "If you will excuse me, Mrs. Gwynne, I must get my men together."
"Well, Mr. Duckworth," said Mrs. Gwynne, smiling on him as she gave him her hand, "I am sorry we cannot wish you a victory, but we can wish you your very best game and an honourable defeat."
"Thank you," said Duckworth. "I feel you have done your best."
"Come and see us afterward, Mr. Duckworth. What a splendid young man," she continued, as Duckworth left the party and set off to get his men together with the words "except he strive lawfully" ringing in his ears.
"She's a wonder," he said to himself. "I wonder how it is she got to me as she has. I know. She makes me think--" But Duckworth refused even to himself to say of whom she made him think. "Except he strive lawfully" the crown would bring "neither honour nor pleasure." Those words, and the face which had suddenly been recalled to Duckworth's memory reconstructed his whole scheme of football diplomacy. "By George, we cannot play Liebold; we can't do it. The boys will kick like steers, but how can we? I'm up against a fierce proposition, all right."
And so he found when he called his men together and put to them the problem before him. "It seems a rotten time to bring this matter up just when we are going on to the ground, but I never really thought much about it till that little lady put it to me as I told you. And, fellows, I have felt as if it were really up to me to put it before you. They have lost their goal man, Coleman--there's no better in the League--and because of this infernal rule they decline to put on a cracking good player. They are playing the game on honour, and they are expecting us to do the same, and as that English chap says, they expect us to be gentlemen. I apologise to you all, and if you say go on as we are, I will go on because I feel I ought to have kicked before. But I do so under protest and feeling like a thief. I suggest that Harremann take Liebold's place. Awfully sorry about it, Liebold, and I apologise to you. I can't tell you how sorry I am, boys, but that's how it is with me."
There was no time for discussion, and strangely enough there was little desire for it, the Captain's personality and the action of the Wolf Willow team carrying the proposition through. Harremann took his place on the team, and Liebold made his contribution that day from the side lines. But the team went on to the field with a sense that whatever might be the outcome of the match they had begun the day with victory.
The match was contested with the utmost vigour, not to say violence; but there was a absence of the rancour which had too often characterised the clashing of these teams on previous occasions, the Eagle Hill team carrying on to the field a new respect for their opponents as men who had shown a true sporting spirit. And by the time the first quarter was over their action in substituting an inferior player for Liebold for honour's sake was known to all the members of the Wolf Willow team, and awakened in them and in their friends among the spectators a new respect for their enemy. The match resulted in a victory for the home team, but the generous applause which followed the Eagle Hill team from the field and which greeted them afterward at the dinner where they occupied an honoured place at the table set apart for distinguished guests, and the excellent dinner provided by the thrifty Ladies' Aid of All Saints Church went far to soothe their wounded spirits and to atone for their defeat.
"Awfully fine of you, Duckworth," said Larry, as they left the table together. "That's the sort of thing that makes for clean sport."
"I promised to see your mother after the match," said Duckworth. "Can we find her now?"
"Sure thing," said Larry.
Mrs. Gwynne received
"Good again, Mother. You ought to have a place on the League committee. We shall have that Scripture entered on the rules. But I must run and dress. Farwell, you can take charge of Duckworth."
But Duckworth was uneasy to be gone. "If you will excuse me, Mrs. Gwynne, I must get my men together."
"Well, Mr. Duckworth," said Mrs. Gwynne, smiling on him as she gave him her hand, "I am sorry we cannot wish you a victory, but we can wish you your very best game and an honourable defeat."
"Thank you," said Duckworth. "I feel you have done your best."
"Come and see us afterward, Mr. Duckworth. What a splendid young man," she continued, as Duckworth left the party and set off to get his men together with the words "except he strive lawfully" ringing in his ears.
"She's a wonder," he said to himself. "I wonder how it is she got to me as she has. I know. She makes me think--" But Duckworth refused even to himself to say of whom she made him think. "Except he strive lawfully" the crown would bring "neither honour nor pleasure." Those words, and the face which had suddenly been recalled to Duckworth's memory reconstructed his whole scheme of football diplomacy. "By George, we cannot play Liebold; we can't do it. The boys will kick like steers, but how can we? I'm up against a fierce proposition, all right."
And so he found when he called his men together and put to them the problem before him. "It seems a rotten time to bring this matter up just when we are going on to the ground, but I never really thought much about it till that little lady put it to me as I told you. And, fellows, I have felt as if it were really up to me to put it before you. They have lost their goal man, Coleman--there's no better in the League--and because of this infernal rule they decline to put on a cracking good player. They are playing the game on honour, and they are expecting us to do the same, and as that English chap says, they expect us to be gentlemen. I apologise to you all, and if you say go on as we are, I will go on because I feel I ought to have kicked before. But I do so under protest and feeling like a thief. I suggest that Harremann take Liebold's place. Awfully sorry about it, Liebold, and I apologise to you. I can't tell you how sorry I am, boys, but that's how it is with me."
There was no time for discussion, and strangely enough there was little desire for it, the Captain's personality and the action of the Wolf Willow team carrying the proposition through. Harremann took his place on the team, and Liebold made his contribution that day from the side lines. But the team went on to the field with a sense that whatever might be the outcome of the match they had begun the day with victory.
The match was contested with the utmost vigour, not to say violence; but there was a absence of the rancour which had too often characterised the clashing of these teams on previous occasions, the Eagle Hill team carrying on to the field a new respect for their opponents as men who had shown a true sporting spirit. And by the time the first quarter was over their action in substituting an inferior player for Liebold for honour's sake was known to all the members of the Wolf Willow team, and awakened in them and in their friends among the spectators a new respect for their enemy. The match resulted in a victory for the home team, but the generous applause which followed the Eagle Hill team from the field and which greeted them afterward at the dinner where they occupied an honoured place at the table set apart for distinguished guests, and the excellent dinner provided by the thrifty Ladies' Aid of All Saints Church went far to soothe their wounded spirits and to atone for their defeat.
"Awfully fine of you, Duckworth," said Larry, as they left the table together. "That's the sort of thing that makes for clean sport."
"I promised to see your mother after the match," said Duckworth. "Can we find her now?"
"Sure thing," said Larry.
Mrs. Gwynne received