Dick, went
downstairs.

The young man was elated. At Hertha's request he placed the candy in the
center of the table and seized upon her as his partner without
permitting the question to be decided by cutting the cards. For this
Hertha was grateful, since she knew little of the game and was confident
that she would spoil the good time of either of the women should they
have to bear her mistakes upon their score. Of Miss Wood she stood much
in awe. That lady was an assistant secretary in an Association for
Improving the Condition of the Destitute and knew a prodigious amount
regarding poverty and crime. She played her cards as though solving one
of her, day's cases. Mrs. Pickens had played to oblige too often to have
any feeling of the importance of the game. To Dick, cards were a matter
of luck; his failures were always attributed to poor hands, and with
Hertha opposite him he cared little whether he ended in a pit of defeat
or on a pinnacle of success.

"I wish you wouldn't talk so much about above and below the line,"
Hertha said, as they started upon a new rubber.

"Why?" Mrs. Pickens asked.

"Because it's in shorthand, and I want to forget the old stuff. All the
sense of a sentence depends upon whether you're above or below."

"It's much the same in bridge," Mrs. Pickens made answer. "Now don't
make it, Dick, unless you have the cards."

It was before auction bridge when the dealer's position was an important
one.

"I'm not reckless, am I?" Dick asked, appealing to his partner. "I'm as
careful as a donkey walking by the side of a precipice."

"Just about," said Hertha, laughing.

Forgetful of the game, he looked at her as though he would devour her.

"Perhaps you will decide on something," Miss Wood remarked
sarcastically, "or let your partner."

"Make it, partner," said Dick, but Hertha, frightened at the
opportunity, threw down a good hand.

Certainly her partner never lectured her upon her poor plays. He was
quite indifferent when she took his Queen with her King, and when in a
burst of adventure she doubled her opponent and lost four tricks he
proved to her that she had done exactly right. This disaster made her
cautious and in the following hand, with four aces, she made it spades
and scored eight points instead of a grand slam. When the modest figure
was placed below the line her partner cheered her for her success.

"Really, Miss Ogilvie," Miss Wood said, "if you want to learn bridge you
must