Читать книгу The Oaken Heart онлайн

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Then there was more cricket, and tea with everybody's name on the cake, and afterwards a finish to the game which was so close that the score had to be checked over before the winners were certain of their victory. Finally came a gathering for more old-and-mild refreshment in all the downstairs rooms at once, with last-minute bits of news and a tremendous concerted ragging of a distinguished guest (one of His Majesty's Recorders), who bore up magnificently under the strain; while yet another four-and-a-half had to be trundled down from the Thatcher's, bringing up the score to the full thirty-six.

The exuberant hour lasted full and good and without spoiling until the moon came up, and the bus drivers put their feet down and carried a sleepy, happy Pontisbright away to its deep green valley inland.

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A few weeks later, when we were still clearing up and packing away things that might come in useful next year, the incredible descended upon us, and we were suddenly required to take instant precautions in case of an attack on our lives by poison gas.