I was so
heart-broken at the havoc that I had the whole place cleared out; I shall
have it laid out again on rather more elaborate lines."
"That," she said to the Baroness afterwards "is what I call having an
emergency brain."
THE SHEEP
The enemy had declared "no trumps." Rupert played out his ace and king
of clubs and cleared the adversary of that suit; then the Sheep, whom the
Fates had inflicted on him for a partner, took the third round with the
queen of clubs, and, having no other club to lead back, opened another
suit. The enemy won the remainder of the tricks--and the rubber.
"I had four more clubs to play; we only wanted the odd trick to win the
rubber," said Rupert.
"But I hadn't another club to lead you," exclaimed the Sheep, with his
ready, defensive smile.
"It didn't occur to you to throw your queen away on my king and leave me
with the command of the suit," said Rupert, with polite bitterness.
"I suppose I ought to have--I wasn't certain what to do. I'm awfully
sorry," said the Sheep.
Being awfully and uselessly sorry formed a large part of his occupation
in life. If a similar situation had arisen in a subsequent hand he would
have blundered just as certainly, and he would have been just as
irritatingly apologetic.
Pages:
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225