"
"Not on your father's side, Bathurst. I knew him well, and he was
a very gallant officer."
"No, it was the other side," Bathurst said; "I will tell you about
it some day."
At this moment another friend of Bathurst's came up and entered
into conversation with him.
"Well, I will go upstairs to the billiard room," the Doctor said;
"and you will find me there, Bathurst, whenever you feel disposed
to go."
A pool had just finished when the Doctor entered the billiard room.
"That is right, Doctor, you are just in time," Prothero said, as
he entered. "Sinclair has given up his cue; he is going to ride
tomorrow, and is afraid of shaking his nerves; you must come and
play for the honor of the corps. I am being ruined altogether, and
Doolan has retired discomfited."
"I have not touched a cue since I went away," the Doctor said, "but
I don't mind adding to the list of victims. Who are the winners?"
"Messenger and Jarvis have been carrying all before them; there is
a report they have just sent off two club waiters, with loads of
rupees, to their quarters. Scarsdale has been pretty well holding
his own, but the rest of us are nowhere."
A year's want of practice, however, told, and the Doctor was added
to the list of victims: he had no difficulty in getting someone
else to take his cue after playing for half an hour.
"It shows that practice is required for everything," he said; "before
I went away I could have given each of those men a life, now they
could give me two; I must devote half an hour a day to it till I
get it back again.
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