“Oh, we’ve met before,” smiled Miss—­I’ve forgotten the name again now.

“Thank you,” I said gratefully.  I thought it was extremely nice of her to remember me.  Probably I had spilt lemonade over her at a dance, and in some way the incident had fixed itself in her mind.  We do these little things, you know, and think nothing of them at the moment, but all the time—­

“Smooth,” said a voice.

I looked up and found that a pair of opponents had mysteriously appeared, and that my partner was leading the way on to the court.

“I’ll take the right-hand side, if you don’t mind,” she announced.  “Oh, and what about apologizing?” she went on.  “Shall we do it after every stroke, or at the end of each game, or when we say good-bye, or never?  I get so tired of saying ‘sorry.’”

“Oh, but we shan’t want to apologize; I’m sure we’re going to get on beautifully together.”

“I suppose you’ve played a lot this summer?”

“No, not at all yet, but I’m feeling rather strong, and I’ve got a new racket.  One way and another, I expect to play a very powerful game.”

Our male opponent served.  He had what I should call a nasty swift service.  The first ball rose very suddenly and took my partner on the side of the head. ("Sorry,” she apologized.  “It’s all right,” I said magnanimously.) I returned the next into the net; the third clean bowled my partner; and off the last I was caught in the slips.  (One, love.)

“Will you serve?” said Miss—­I wish I could remember her surname.  Her Christian name was Hope or Charity or something like that; I know, when I heard it, I thought it was just as well.  If I might call her Miss Hope for this once?  Thank you.

“Will you serve?” said Miss Hope.

In the right-hand court I use the American service, which means that I never know till the last moment which side of the racket is going to hit the ball.  On this occasion it was a dead heat—­that is to say, I got it in between with the wood; and the ball sailed away over beds and beds of the most beautiful flowers.

“Oh, is that the American service?” said Miss Hope, much interested.

“South American,” I explained.  “Down in Peru they never use anything else.”

In the left-hand court I employ the ordinary Hampstead Smash into the bottom of the net.  After four Hampstead Smashes and four Peruvian Teasers (love, two) I felt that another explanation was called for.

“I’ve got a new racket I’ve never used before,” I said.  “My old one is being pressed; it went to the shop yesterday to have the creases taken out.  Don’t you find that with a new racket you—­er—­exactly.”

In the third game we not only got the ball over but kept it between the white lines on several occasions—­though not so often as our opponents (three, love); and in the fourth game Miss Hope served gentle lobs, while I, at her request, stood close up to the net and defended myself with my racket.  I warded off the first two shots amidst applause (thirty, love), and dodged the next three (thirty, forty), but the last one was too quick for me and won the coco-nut with some ease. (Game.  Love, four.)