Why! He
could not play any games at all! He was a figure only in the streets!
Nevertheless--the oath!
He sat awkwardly silent for a few moments, wondering how to begin. And
then Harold Etches leaned across the tram to him and said:
"I say, Machin, I've several times meant to ask you. Why don't you put
up for the Sports Club? It's really very good, you know."
Denry blushed, quite probably for the last time in his life. And he saw
with fresh clearness how great he was, and how large he must loom in the
life of the town. He perceived that he had been too modest.
V
You could not be elected to the Sports Club all in a minute. There were
formalities; and that these formalities were complicated and took time
is simply a proof that the club was correctly exclusive and worth
belonging to. When at length Denry received notice from the "Secretary
and Steward" that he was elected to the most sparkling fellowship in the
Five Towns, he was positively afraid to go and visit the club. He wanted
some old and experienced member to lead him gently into the club and
explain its usages and introduce him to the chief _habitues_.
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