We sat round the table. For some five minutes there was complete silence, owing to the fact that there is tremendous secret competition amongst us as to who can build their wall quickest.
“Go on, James,” said Caroline at last. “You’re East Wind.”
I discarded a tile. A round or two proceeded, broken by the monotonous remarks of “Three Bamboos,” “Two Circles,” “Pung,” and frequently from Miss Ganett “Unpung,” owing to that lady’s habit of too hastily claiming tiles to which she had no right.
“I saw Flora Ackroyd this morning,” said Miss Ganett. “Pung—no—Unpung. I made a mistake.”
“Four Circles,” said Caroline. “Where did you see her?”
“She didn’t see me,” said Miss Ganett, with that tremendous significance only to be met with in small villages.
“Ah!” said Caroline interestedly. “Chow.”
“I believe,” said Miss Ganett, temporarily diverted, “that it’s the right thing nowadays to say ‘Chee’ not ‘Chow.’”
“Nonsense,” said Caroline. “I have always said ‘Chow.’”
“In the Shanghai Club,” said Colonel Carter, “they say ‘Chow.’”