In a beige walking dress, decorated with brown hems and pink flowers, Mary entered Hyde Park and found her way to the bridge of the Serpentine River. She had told her mother she was in Hyde Park indeed, but with Grace as chaperone.

Mary hoped lady Anne would not talk to Grace, for her best friend did not know how often she had been used as an excuse.

The sun was bright, and Mary regretted not bringing a parasol. But if she were to play cricket, there was no chance of standing underneath the thing, for she would hold a bat in her hands.

"You are early," a voice suddenly said behind her. Startled, Mary turned around and found Eli behind her. unlike the last two times she had seen him, he did not look frightening. He was dressed in white trousers, a white shirt and a black vest. A high black hat was on top of his head, but he was not wearing a coat.

She had been quite early, indeed. But she did not want him to think she would not come. Whatever happened, he would not win the bet so easily.

"Or you are late," she told him, and turned back around to walk in the direction of the bridge.

"Excited to lose, perhaps?" he asked when he was walking next to her.

"No, I am ready to see you fail."

He laughed at her remark, then he said: "then you can wait a long while."

"You do not have the bats and a ball with you," Mary noticed.

"They are already in place on an empty field," he said, and pointed his finger in the direction of the field.

She turned toward the path that was the closest to that direction. "Then you came early too."

He bit his lip and looked at the gravel on the ground. His hands were clasped behind his back, and from the corner of her eye, he looked quite innocent. But Mary knew better. She had seen him turn into a madman as he beat a defenceless man. But she had also seen how he could get angry when he felt powerless – like yesterday in his garden when he stormed toward her and Ada.

"How did you get out of the house?" Mary asked, filling the silence that had fallen between them. "Ada told me you are not allowed to do so. Only to the garden if you have a chaperone."

His head turned toward her. "You call my sister by her first name."

"I consider her my friend now," Mary said with a shrug. "It seems she has a lot of shameful stories about you."

"Is that why you consider her your friend?" he challenged.

"Are you so frightened of what I might hear that you purposefully changed the subject?"

"I did not change the subject," he argued.

Mary turned her head to him. "Then how do you see my question as the same subject as your sister?"

He bit his lip and turned his head away. "I have forgotten your question," he silently admitted.

"Short memory?" she mocked. When he did not answer, she repeated her question. "How come you are out of the house? Ada told me you were not allowed to do so."

Eli merely shrugged and simply said: "as long as they do not know..."

"You are lying again?" she asked surprised.

"No, for I did not tell them I was to stay inside."

"But you are breaking the rules of your punishment."

His head turned back to her. "Do you wish me not to be here?"

"Certainly," she wisely said. "For if you do not show up, I can claim the win."

"Then it is unfortunate for you that I am willing to risk my parents' ire."

"Very unfortunate indeed," she admitted. "But all will be in vain, for I will win."

He gave her a smug smile. "We shall see about that."

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Eli had taken her to an empty field near the Serpentine River. The river laid a bit bellow the walking paths, making the field bend down and harder to walk on.

"I hope you know how to play cricket," Eli said. "If not, you can spare yourself the embarrassment, for I shall certainly win."

Mary walked closer to him and took the bat he was offering her. "How unfortunate for you that I have played cricket ever since I was young."

His jaw tightened, but he nodded. "Then it shall be a fair game."

He walked toward one of the two wickets and picked up the ball from the ground. "Since we are only with two, we shall play the game differently," he explained. "I throw the ball at you, you miss and I win."

Mary raised her eyebrows and gave him a stern look. "And if I hit the ball?"

"Then I run after it while you run to that tree and back," he said while pointing at a tree a few meters behind him. "Once I have returned and you have not, then I win."

"Where do you run to if I throw the ball?" Mary asked, ignoring his explicit hope on winning.

"To that tree and back," he said, while pointing at a tree behind her, probably the same distance as the tree she was supposed to run to.

She looked at him and nodded. "Fair enough."

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She lifted the bat and prepared to hit the ball. Then she nodded. "More ready than you are."

"I hope you can run in a dress, for I will not hold back because of that," he said right before he threw the ball in her direction. She moved the bat in its direction, but she did not hit it. The ball hit the wickets behind them, making them fall over.

Eli clapped his hands while he laughed. "This will be easier than expected."

"That was a bad bowl," Mary argued, but Eli shook his head.

"You are frightened to lose."

Mary gave him a stern look. "A lost battle is no lost war," she told him, before she put the wicked back up like it was supposed to.

He gave her a smug smile, then prepared to throw the ball. When he did, he threw well, and Mary was able to hit it. She watched as it flew far away. Twas only when Eli started running, that she realized she had to do the same. As quick as she could, she ran toward the tree. She placed her hand on it to prove she had reached it, then turned around and ran back as fast as she could.

She saw Eli nearing the pitch as well, his eyes on her like hers were on him. She tried to make her feet move faster than they were doing now, but she was not able to. Eli arrived at the pitch just before she did and kicked her wicket over with the ball.

"Argh!" she shouted as she neared the pitch only a little too late. Eli clapped his hands again, applauding for himself.

He pointed at her. "I must say," he admitted through the gasps, "you are a worthy opponent. But you are just not good enough."

She took the ball out of his hand and sternly told him: "we shall see about that."

He picked up the bat and stood into position to hit the ball. Mary threw it, and from the first try, he hit it. This time, she did not wait to start running. Sooner than him, she left the pitch and chased after the ball. She saw it falling on the grass and rolling down toward river. As fast as she could – and almost falling in the process – she ran down the hill and picked up the ball.

Returning to the pitch, meant running uphill. Twas exhausting, but when she saw Eli nearing the pitch before she did, she found energy in her body that she had not found before. Faster than ever, she ran toward the pitch.

She seemed to be as far away from the two wickets as he was, but she ran as fast as she could. Nearing the pitch, she still did not know who would be first. And when they both had only a few more paces to go before they reached it, Mary reached forward, hoping to reach his wicket before he did.

His body slammed hard against her, pushing her down on the ground. He fell on top of her, and when they came to a standstill, his face was right above hers. With heavy gasps, they were looking at each other. Mary was captured by his look and his brown eyes, and even though she wanted to, she could not look away.

She felt his chest move up and down against hers, but he too did not move. Mary realized her eyes were lowering to his lips, but she could stop herself before she truly did. She looked back at his eyes, to find he was looking at her lips.

She swallowed, feeling the tension and not wanting to break it, but knowing she must. He must have realized it too, for he suddenly cleared his throat. "I win," he said before he pushed away from. He did not offer her his hand to help her up, but Mary should not have expected him to do so.

As she stood up and whipped the dirt of her dress, she told him: "not true. I was at the pitch first."

He turned to look at his wicket, which was still standing up. "But you did not win."

She groaned. "But tis not fair. The ball almost fell in the water."

Eli laughed. "I had hoped it would have fallen in. That way, there was no chance for you to win."

"So you tried to cheat?" she asked surprised, although she should not be. Eli was not an easy man. And since he had already lost their first bet, he would do everything he could to win the next one – even cheating.

"Tis not cheating if there is no rule against it."

Mary groaned again, then picked up the bet. "The game is not finished yet. I still have every chance at winning."

Eli threw his head back and laughed. "Good luck with that."

Twas an hour later that Mary and Eli decided to end the game. Mary had made some points, but Eli had made more – many more.

"Tis the dress," Mary said as excuse while they were walking through the park. Eli had gathered the equipment into a bag and was carrying it over one shoulder. "That is why I cannot run fast."

He shrugged. "I did not deny you to wear trousers."

Her mouth fell open at his remark, and she slapped his arm.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For the image you now have in your head in which I am wearing trousers."

He smiled at her. "Tis quite a pleasant view."

That earned him another slap.

"Sore loser?" he asked while laughing. Before she could give him a third slap, he moved away so that she could not reach him. "Another lose for you."

Mary shrugged. "Anyhow, tis one win for you and one win for me. Anything can still happen."

Eli looked at her. "I cannot wait for your next bet."

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"Who is Mr. Jenkins?"

Mary looked at Eli, but he had stiffened at her question. His eyes remained on the ground and refused to meet hers.

Then he shrugged. "Just a man I owe money to."

It sounded realistic and like something that would happen to Eli. But the way he explained with only one sentence, made her doubt if it was the truth.

"Why?" she asked, hoping a revelation would tell her about the truth.

"Gambling," he said with another shrug.

Again, Mary did not doubt that it could be true, but she did not feel like it was. But would he lie about why he was beat up? Was Eli not the kind of man who was proud of his achievements, however bad they are?

"How much do you owe?"

Finally, he turned his head and looked at her.

"That is not your worry," he told her. His words were not kind, but the tone in his voice was not insulting either. And his face also did not hold the angry sneer it usually would when she was reprimanding him. In fact, he seemed to be smiling at her.

"I did not say I would worry about it," she told him with an gloating smile. "I merely wanted to know how much better I am than you at keeping my money."

"How much do you owe?" he wanted to know.

"If you do not tell, then I do not tell."

He laughed and turned his head away from her. "You do not owe any money to anyone. You are too kind for that."

"Some people might call me childish," she told him.

"And I must agree," he told her. "A serious person would never accept the challenge I offered."

"Thus you are childish too."

"Oh darn it."

They had arrived in the street of Eli's house, and when Mary followed the man's gaze toward his house, she saw Ada standing in front of the stairs that let to the front door. She had noticed them too and angrily walked in their direction.

"What the hell, Eli!" she shouted. She stopped right in front of her brother, he face intimidatingly close to his. "Are you stupid? Mama is looking for you, and she will be furious if she realizes you are out of the house."

"But she does not know," Eli said calmly, a smile on his lips. "If she did, you would not be standing here, reprimanding me."

"You think this is funny? Do you think they will let you off easy after this? Jim and Lee figured you were not in the house, and they told Mama. And do not forget that Papa is home today. He is already furious."

Eli opened his arms and said with a smile: "what more could they do to me?"

The sound of Ada's hand touching Eli's cheek was the only sound on the street for a while. While Ada's face was furious, her brother smiled at Mary. The look of it surprised Mary, but when she thought of it, she realized he must have been slapped in the face more than one once before. Why else would he be able to smile after being slapped?

With the smile still on his face, he turned his face to his sister. "At least it was worth it. I won."

Ada let out an angry groan before she took her brother by his arm and dragged her up the stairs. "You are not going to smile much longer."

When they reached the top of the stairs, Ada opened the door while Eli turned around and looked Mary. He gave her a smile as if to say "my apologies". Then he gave her a bow like he was a lord who wanted to be kind to a lady, before Ada took hold of his arm again and harshly pulled him inside the house.

And as Mary stood alone on the street, watching the closing front door, she felt a smile on her lips. When it came or how it came she did not know. Just like she did not know how to get it off.