Page:Hornung - Fathers of Men.djvu/284

 "You can't get away, Evan."

"Then it's all up with me!"

"Not yet a bit."

"But the fellow means it!"

"Let him mean it."

"If I'm not there"

"Somebody else may take your place."

"In the field? My dear fellow"

"No, not in the field, Evan, nor yet at the crease. In Yardley Wood!"

Jan allowed himself a smile at last. And Chips could not have been quicker than Evan to see his meaning now.

"Who will you get to go, Jan?" he was asking eagerly without more ado.

"You must leave that to me, Evan."

"One of the Old Boys?"

"If I'm to help you, Evan, you must leave it all to me.

"Of course you know so many more of them than I do. It's your third year. . . ."

Evan was unconsciously accounting for an enviable influence among the young men with the famous colours. To be sure, Jan was now a Pilgrim himself; he was already one of them. Jan Rutter! But it was certainly decent of him, very decent indeed, especially when they had seen so little of each other all the year. Evan was not unaware that he had treated Jan rather badly, that Jan was therefore treating him really very well. It enabled him to overlook the rather triumphant air of secrecy which it pleased Jan to adopt. After all, it was perhaps better that he should not know beforehand who was actually going to step into the breach. The chances were that almost any Old Boy, remembering that blackguard