Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-04-20
CHAPTER xIv.-tContinued-)

aOf these latter ] believe was reck-
oned as the best player in the regiment.
When quite little chap / had been
taught the game by my mother, who was
passionately fond of it; and suppose I
inherited the taste from her. Anyhow,
even allowing for occasional strokes of
ill-luck or carelessness, was considered
so smart player that tyros could sell
dom be persuaded to take hand against
me, and / found my winnings a very i'm
portant factor in discharging the debts
Wilhelm spite of occasional assistance
from my mother-had a trick of mount
ing to a very uncomfortable figure at the
end of each year.
Sometimes indeed / seemed & have
the luck on my side, as well as the skill !;
and though to lose well was almost q
point of etiquette amongst us, on one &C.
casion when my partner and l had simply
carried off every trick one of our Oppo-
nents declined to take the revenge offered
him. and left the table averring that
THE Sxeleton'-the nickname my lean
ness had gained me in the regiment-was
too uniformly fortunate for any ordinary,
plain-going whist player.
'eThe remark annoyed me, and, oddly
enough, on our very next whist evening,
as if to deter others from following his
example, the cards went dead against
me, and so persistently that before the
first half of the evening was over our
opponents had won three out of FIVE rub
bers, and my partner and had lost rath-
er more than the equivalent of a months
salary apiece.
81 was scarcely surprised when. during
the brief interval before settling down to
the return game, my partner asked me,
in an angry whisper, what was the mat
ter with me. Surely | was not playing
dark horse because of that fool Smith
sons nonsense?
"In truth it was not only the cards
that had been against US / had been
playing badly, not Intentionally of
course, but because my mind was trou-
bled with worrying rumor, which ]
had heard that afternoon, thatg some
thing had gone wrong with a Borse of
mine which was entered to runRin some
races three days later. | had telegraphed
to my trainer about it. hut had rot vet
received an answer; and the sum / stood
to win or lose on that horse was large
enough to make me feel i'll at the thought
of how l was to meet even my outstand-
ing debts if anything were to interfere
with the chances. Still. felt the rebuke
was deserved, and pulled myself togeth-
err sharply
THE next rubber went pretty equally
at first, neither side holding the advan-
tage for some time; then my adversary
made a slip and l scored over it. The
game got exciting. We had come to the
crucial moment when all depended on a
certain card, and it was me to play.
knew quite well what / should do. BY
all the rules of whist there was only one
card l could play under the circumstan.
ces; but a daring player might risk
throwing away another, and save the
trick that way.
For an instant | hesitated my fingers
lowering over the card | still meant to
play. A page came into the room with a
telegram, not for me; but / raised my
eyes, thinking of the horse, and in doing
so saw quite clearly the reflection of my
adversary's hand, given back to me by q
mirror on the wall behind me. He was
holding his cards in such way that each
one was plainly visible to me, and l saw
at a glimpse that the trump was not
among them. My card was on the table
almost before the fact was consciously
plain to me, and--it was the last trick
The game was ours.
How the next went | have no idea
/ happened to hold splendid cards, and
each one told. We won all along the
line; and yet l played quite mechanically
and with confused mind. What had
done? What ought / to have done? That
monetary vision had been purely acct
dental. The card had played was the
one I meant to play. To have substi-
tuted another would have been to wrong
my partner, and the men who were put
ting their money on us l had not even
had time or presence of mind enough to
say anything ON the instant, so involun-
tary had BEEN my action; but after
wards
All, there was the rub! Before the
trick was taken up, and when should
have spoken, l had delayed trying to
think it QUITO argue the situation, ex-
plain, defend it. Meanwhile the fresh
pack was being rapidly shuffied and cut
1t was my turn to deal. The chance
was lost