The Loom of Youth

Excerpt: ...You hate me, I dare say; from all I hear of you, you hate my house; and you stir up sedition against me. You show the Pg 148 others how much you care for me. And you are both people who have some influence in your house, and wherever you are, for that matter. And are you using it for the good of Fernhurst? You ruined all my pleasure in the cricket Colts; but I don't care about myself. All I care for is Fernhurst. Why did I stop Lovelace being captain? Because I want a man who is going to back me up, who is going to play for the side and not for himself. And I tell you I am going to drop Lovelace; he plays for himself; he gives rotten passes; he upsets combination; and I won't have him on my side." Gordon could stand it no longer. "Sir, I am not going to hold a brief for myself. But you have not treated Lovelace fairly. Last year on a trial game you kicked him out of the side, only to find in a week that you could not do without him. And to-day, sir, on a trial game you deposed him from the captaincy." "Do you mean to say that after playing Rugby football for twenty-five years I don't know what I am talking about?" Gordon saw he had said too much. "And I am not talking about his play, I am talking about his general attitude. Now, didn't you two rag about a good deal at the nets last term?" "Well, sir, it was hardly ragging, sir--" "Oh, hardly ragging. There must be no ragging. If we are going to turn out good sides we must be in dead earnest the whole time. You imagine you are loyal to Fernhurst. My old sides followed me implicitly. I loved them, and they loved me. We worked together for Fernhurst; now, are you doing your best for Fernhurst?" Gordon was overwhelmed. He wanted to tell "the Bull" how mistaken he was; that he and Lovelace did not hate him at all; that they were doing their best; but that their sense of humour was at times too strong. But it was useless. "The Bull" would not give him a chance. And he had learnt from Mansell...