Lucy sat with Mary under the tent as they watched the annual Village vs. Downton cricket game.
She glanced over at Mary. "Why is Tom playing? He is not..." she squinted her eyes to see her husband struggling to stand still as he waited to be of use. "Well, he's a dreadful cricket player."
Mary chuckled. "So he always says, but without him, we would not have won the year he joined."
Lucy titled her head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, the year after Sybil died, Tom insisted he was a horrible cricket player, but Papa is as stubborn as a mule, and made an ultimatum with him, and we won against the village, which is usually not how it goes down. Papa's made him play ever since then."
Lucy smiled, and gazed back out at where her husband stood. "Well, I will have to ask him why he chose to fib that he could not play."
"He was probably afraid he would be forced to play in another annual game!"