Psmith Series. P. G. Wodehouse
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Название: Psmith Series
Автор: P. G. Wodehouse
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Языкознание
isbn: 9788027249121
isbn:
A grey dismay settled on the field.
The bowling had now become almost unbelievably bad.; Lobs were being tried, and Stone, nearly weeping with pure joy, was playing an innings of the How-to-brighten-cricket type.; He had an unorthodox style, but an excellent eye, and the road at this period of the game became absolutely unsafe for pedestrians and traffic.
Mike’s pace had become slower, as was only natural, but his score, too, was mounting steadily.
“This is foolery,” snapped Mr. Downing, as the three hundred and fifty went up on the board.; “Barnes!” he called.
There was no reply.; A committee of three was at that moment engaged in sitting on Barnes’s head in the first eleven changing-room, in order to correct a more than usually feverish attack of conscience.
“Barnes!”
“Please, sir,” said Stone, some species of telepathy telling him what was detaining his captain.; “I think Barnes must have left the field.; He has probably gone over to the house to fetch something.”
“This is absurd.; You must declare your innings closed.; The game has become a farce.”
“Declare!; Sir, we can’t unless Barnes does.; He might be awfully annoyed if we did anything like that without consulting him.”
“Absurd.”
“He’s very touchy, sir.”
“It is perfect foolery.”
“I think Jenkins is just going to bowl, sir.”
Mr. Downing walked moodily to his place.
* * * * *
In a neat wooden frame in the senior day-room at Outwood’s, just above the mantelpiece, there was on view, a week later, a slip of paper.; The writing on it was as follows:;
OUTWOOD’S v.; DOWNING’S
Outwood’s.; First innings.
| J. P. Barnes, c.; Hammond, b.; Hassall... | 33 |
| M. Jackson, not out........................ | 277 |
| W. J. Stone, not out....................... | 124 |
| Extras............................... | 37 |
| ; | ----- |
| Total (for one wicket)...... | 471 |
Downing’s did not bat.
CHAPTER XLI
THE SINGULAR BEHAVIOUR OF JELLICOE
Outwood’s rollicked considerably that night.; Mike, if he had cared to take the part, could have been the Petted Hero.; But a cordial invitation from the senior day-room to be the guest of the evening at about the biggest rag of the century had been refused on the plea of fatigue.; One does not make two hundred and seventy-seven runs on a hot day without feeling the effects, even if one has scored mainly by the medium of boundaries; and Mike, as he lay back in Psmith’s deck-chair, felt that all he wanted was to go to bed and stay there for a week.; His hands and arms burned as if they were red-hot, and his eyes were so tired that he could not keep them open.
Psmith, leaning against the mantelpiece, discoursed in a desultory way on the day’s happenings—the score off Mr. Downing, the undeniable annoyance of that battered bowler, and the probability of his venting his annoyance on Mike next day.
“In theory,” said he, “the manly what-d’you-call-it of cricket and all that sort of thing ought to make him fall on your neck to-morrow and weep over you as a foeman worthy of his steel.; But I am prepared to bet a reasonable sum that he will give no Jiu-jitsu exhibition of this kind.; In fact, from what I have seen of our bright little friend, I should say that, in a small way, he will do his best to make it distinctly hot for you, here and there.”
“I don’t care,” murmured Mike, shifting his aching limbs in the chair.
“In an ordinary way, I suppose, a man can put up with having his bowling hit a little.; But your performance was cruelty to animals.; Twenty-eight off one over, not to mention three wides, would have made Job foam at the mouth.; You will probably get sacked.; On the other hand, it’s worth it.; You have lit a candle this day which can never be blown out.; You have shown the lads of the village how Comrade Downing’s bowling ought to be treated.; I don’t suppose he’ll ever take another wicket.”
“He doesn’t deserve to.”
Psmith smoothed his hair at the glass and turned round again.
“The only blot on this day of mirth and good-will is,” he said, “the singular conduct of our friend Jellicoe.; When all the place was ringing with song and merriment, Comrade Jellicoe crept to my side, and, slipping his little hand in mine, touched me for three quid.”
This interested Mike, fagged as he was.
“What!; Three quid!”
“Three jingling, clinking sovereigns.; He wanted four.”
“But the man must be living at the rate of I don’t know what.; It was only yesterday that he borrowed a quid from me!”
“He must be saving money fast.; There appear to be the makings of a financier about Comrade Jellicoe.; Well, I hope, when he’s collected enough for his needs, he’ll pay me back a bit.; I’m pretty well cleaned out.”
“I got some from my brother at Oxford.”
“Perhaps he’s saving up to get married.; We may be helping towards furnishing the home.; There was a Siamese prince fellow at my dame’s at Eton who had four wives when he arrived, and gathered in a fifth during his first summer holidays.; It was done on the correspondence system.; His Prime Minister fixed it up at the other end, and sent him the glad news on a picture post-card.; I think an eye ought to be kept on Comrade Jellicoe.”
* * * * *
Mike tumbled into bed that night like a log, but he could not sleep.; He ached all over.; Psmith chatted for a time on human affairs in general, and then dropped gently off.; Jellicoe, who appeared to be wrapped in gloom, contributed nothing to the conversation.
After Psmith had gone to sleep, Mike lay for some time running over in his mind, as the best substitute СКАЧАТЬ