for pure pleasure, without stakes, made no
difference to Miss Erskine. Technically it was a revoke, and she was
within her rights when she exclaimed it.

"Three tricks!" she said exultantly, "and you cannot make game this
hand."

"I'm very sorry, partner," Miss Tilghman apologized.

"It's entirely excusable under the circumstances," said Dangerfield,
with deliberate accent. "You may do it again!"

"How courteous Mr. Dangerfield is," Miss Erskine smiled. "To my mind,
nothing excuses a revoke except sudden blindness."

"And you would claim it even then, I suppose?" Dangerfield retorted.

"I said, sudden blindness was the only excuse, Mr. Dangerfield. Had you
observed my language more closely, you doubtless would have
understood.--It is your lead, partner."

Dangerfield, with a wink at Croyden, subsided, and the hand was
finished, as was the next, when Croyden was dummy, without further
jangling. But midway in the succeeding hand, Miss Erskine began.

"My dear Mr. Croyden," she said, "when you have the Ace, King, and _no
more_ in a suit, you should lead the Ace and then the King, to show
that you have no more--give the down-and-out signal. We would have made
an extra trick, if you had done so--I could have given you a diamond to
trump. As it was, you led the King and then the Ace, and I supposed, of
course, you had at least four in suit."

"I'm very sorry; I'll try to remember in future," said Croyden with
affected contrition.

But, at the end of the hand, he was in disgrace again.

"If your original lead had been from your fourth best, partner, I could
have understood you," she said. "As it was, you misinformed me. Under
the rule of eleven, I had but the nine to beat, I played the ten and
Mr. Dangerfield covered with the Knave, which by the rule you should
have held. We lost another trick by it, you see."

"It's too bad--too bad!" Croyden answered; "that's two tricks we've
lost by my stupid playing. I'm afraid I'm pretty ignorant, Miss
Erskine, for I don't know what is meant by the rule of eleven."

Miss Erskine's manner of cutting the cards was somewhat indicative of
her contempt--lingeringly, softly, putting them down as though she
scorned to touch them except with the tips of her fingers.

"The rule of eleven is usually one of the first things learned by a
beginner at Bridge," she said, witheringly. "I do not always agree with
Mr. Elwell, some of whose reasoning and inferences, in my opinion, are
much