The Missioner Part 10

"I'm afraid so," Mr. Hurd a.s.sented gloomily.

The next batsman had issued from the tent and was on his way to the wicket. Wilhelmina, who had been about to give an order to the footman, watched him curiously.

"Who is that going in?" she asked abruptly.

Mr. Hurd was looking not altogether comfortable.

"It is the young man who wanted to preach," he answered.

Wilhelmina frowned.

"Why is he playing?" she asked. "He has nothing to do with Thorpe."

"He came down to see them practise a few evenings ago, and Antill asked him," the agent answered. "If I had known earlier I would have stopped it."

Wilhelmina did not immediately reply. She was watching the young man who stood now at the wicket, bat in hand. In his flannels, he seemed a very different person from the missioner whose request a few days ago had so much offended her. Nevertheless, her lip curled as she saw the terrible Mills prepare to deliver his first ball.

"That sort of person," she remarked, "is scarcely likely to be much good at games. Oh!"

Her exclamation was repeated in various forms from all over the field.

Macheson had hit his first ball high over their heads, and a storm of applause broke from the bystanders. The batsman made no attempt to run.

"What is that?" Wilhelmina asked.

"A boundary--magnificent drive," Mr. Hurd answered excitedly. "By Jove, another!"

The agent dropped his reins and led the applause. Along the ground this time the ball had come at such a pace that the fieldsman made a very half-hearted attempt to stop it. It pa.s.sed the horses' feet by only a few yards. The coachman turned round and touched his hat.

"Shall I move farther back, madam?" he asked.

"Stay where you are," Wilhelmina answered shortly. Her eyes were fixed upon the tall, lithe figure once more facing the bowler. The next ball was the last of the over. Macheson played it carefully for a single, and stood prepared for the bowling at the other end. He began by a graceful cut for two, and followed it up by a square leg hit clean out of the ground. For the next half an hour, the Thorpe villagers thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Never since the days of one Foulds, a former blacksmith, had they seen such an exhibition of hurricane hitting. The fast bowler, knocked clean off his length, became wild and erratic. Once he only missed Macheson's head by an inch, but his next ball was driven fair and square out of the ground for six. The applause became frantic.

Wilhelmina was leaning back amongst the cushions of her carriage, watching the game through half closed eyes, and with some apparent return of her usual graceful languor. Nevertheless, she remained there, and her eyes seldom wandered for a moment from the scene of play.

Beneath her apparent indifference, she was watching this young man with an interest for which she would have found it hard to account, and which instinct alone prompted her to conceal. It was a very ordinary scene, after all, of which he was the dominant figure. She had seen so much of life on a larger scale--of men playing heroic parts in the limelight of a stage as mighty as this was insignificant. Yet, without stopping to reason about it, she was conscious of a curious sense of pleasure in watching the doings of this forceful young giant. With an easy good-humoured smile, replaced every now and then with a grim look of determination as he jumped out from the crease to hit, he continued his victorious career, until a more frantic burst of applause than usual announced that the match was won. Then Wilhelmina turned towards Stephen Hurd, who was standing by the side of the carriage.

"You executed my commission," she asked, "respecting that young man?"

"The first thing this morning," he answered. "I went up to see Mrs.

Foulton, and I also spoke to him."

"Did he make any difficulty?"

"None at all!" the young man answered.

"What did he say?"

Stephen hesitated, but Wilhelmina waited for his reply. She had the air of one remotely interested, yet she waited obviously to hear what this young man had said.

"I think he said something about your making war upon a large scale,"

Stephen explained diffidently.

She sat still for a moment. She was looking towards the deserted cricket pitch.

"Where is he staying now?" she asked.

"I do not know," he answered. "I have warned all the likely people not to receive him, and I have told him, too, that he will only get your tenants into trouble if he tries to get lodgings here."

"I should like," she said, "to speak to him. Perhaps you would be so good as to ask him to step this way for a moment."

Stephen departed, wondering. Deyes was watching his hostess with an air of covert amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Do you continue the warfare," he asked, "or has the young man's prowess softened your heart?"

Wilhelmina raised her parasol and looked steadily at her questioner.

"Warfare is scarcely the word, is it?" she remarked carelessly. "I have no personal objection to the young man."

They watched him crossing the field towards them. Notwithstanding his recent exertions, he walked lightly, and without any sign of fatigue.

Deyes looked curiously at the crest upon the cap which he was carrying in his hand.

"Magdalen," he muttered. "Your missioner grows more interesting."

Wilhelmina leaned forwards. Her face was inscrutable, and her greeting devoid of cordiality.

"So you have decided to teach my people cricket instead of morals, Mr.

Macheson," she remarked.

"The two," he answered pleasantly, "are not incompatible."

Wilhelmina frowned.

"I hope," she said, "that you have abandoned your idea of holding meetings in the village."

"Certainly not," he answered. "I will begin next week."

"You understand," she said calmly, "that I consider you--as a missioner--an intruder--here! Those of my people who attend your services will incur my displeasure!"

"Madam," he answered, "I do not believe that you will visit it upon them."

"But I will," she interrupted ruthlessly. "You are young and know little of the world. You have not yet learnt the truth of one of the oldest of proverbs--that it is well to let well alone!"

"It is a sop for the idle, that proverb," he answered. "It is the motto for the great army of those who drift."

"I have been making inquiries," she said. "I find that my villagers are contented and prosperous. There are no signs of vice in the place."

"There is such a thing," he answered, "as being too prosperous, over-contented. The person in such a state takes life for granted.

Religion is a thing he hears about, but fails to realize. He has no need of it. He becomes like the prize cattle in your park! He has a mind, but has forgotten how to use it."

She looked at him steadily, perhaps a trifle insolently.