New Britain herald., 1916-08-03
How Grace Draper Lost the Game
 for Dicky.

How Grace Draper Lost the Game for Dicky. 1 I do not think I shall ever forget l the tennis game which Harry Under l wood and I played against Dicky and 1 Grace Draper at our home in Marvin. Lillian, ostensibly reading a maga- i zine, but in reality watching every 1 move keenly, sat on a rustic chair 1 under the big oak tree which was one 1 ot the landmarks of the place. She 1 had refused to play because, by not | doing so, she was better able to carry l out her plan of spelling the friend l ship between Dicky and Grace Draper. To my great astonishment, DiclIy | was a bit sulky. He was too clever to l let anything of his feeling appear on l the surface, and I am sure that neither | Grace Draper nor Harry Underwood 1 guessed it in the first stages of the 1 game. But I, who know every change 1 of expression on my husbands face. | realized that he was distinctly out of | humor because I was not his partner in the tennis doubles. was sure ! from a sly twinkle in Iillians eye that | she also had shrewdly read him.
 
 i ever to realize that 1t was only be- cause of my superior skill in tennis | that Dicky wanted me. The dreary 1 r1isera ble days of the late summer ! when he had seemed to forget my 1 very existence in his infatuatiOn for 1 the girl beside him. were fresh in my memory. I dared not hope that her hold on him was loosening in spite of Iillian's cheering assurances But the knowledge that Dicky wished my small skill in the game to range beside him instead of Harry Under wood served me to my very best efforts. With the touch of feminine n alice which Nny woman would un- derstand I grinly resolved that if I could help it, Dicky should lose not only the sets but the absurd bet Harry Underwood had made with him. There! I think that will hold you for while,'' Harry Underwood laughed gleefully, as I made a cross court shot in returning one of Dicky's strokes that landed entirely out of his reach.
 "Set one, game one, Underwood" chanted Lillian in imitation ofa mega phone.
 An involuntary little frown drew
 
 gone in an instant, and he laughed in sportsmanlike fashion. "WeIl laugh last and best" he prophesied.
 Now, MT. Maurice Mclaughlin, Jr.,''-he waved his hand mockingly at Harry-"lets have some of your famous drives"
 Not Match.
 I never had seen Harry Underwood rlay tennis, although l had heard from Dickv that he was remarkably slzilful. Privately, had thought that he was far too indolent and sleepy looking to excel in any sport.
 But on the tennis court he was a man transformed. His drives were magnificent, smashing ones, and he 1 appeared to be everywhere on the | court at once, moving with an agility | that astonished me- Only his [, ouickened breathing and a heighten- ing of his usual ruddy color betrayed | inc fact that he was somewhat out of | training.
 With a little thrill at my heart I l saw that, good player as he was, Dicl1v's skill was almost, if not quite, cc,ual to his.
 realized the reason for Dickys de- sire to have me at his side in the same. In singles he had the chance 10 defeat his friend but in doubles whichever man had the less sl<illful partner would be practically certain Of defeat
 We played practically all the after noon, stopping only for the iced tea which Katie brought out proudly on my new tea wagon.
 I had the consciousness, which was
 
 I had never played better in my life How I blessed the memory of my brother-cousin, Jack Bickett, who had taught me to play tennis when I was a very young girl, and who had seen that I kept Up my practice whenever to a tennis club with grounds near Mrs Stewards boarding house in Brooklyn, where I had lived for so many years with my mother. And our games there had been many and exciting.
 If I had not known that Grace Draper was deliberately trying to take my husbands love away from me should have felt sorry for the girl as the afternoon wore away
 She belonged to the tennis club of M MarV1n, but had evidently practised very little. She was a very mediocre player.
 Game ofter game she lost for Dicky,