It was a long rubber, but it ended in Lord Charles leaving the declaration to me, and my declaring "no trumps," with four aces and a long suit of diamonds.
When he had expressed his satisfaction, and Brummer had sworn heavily at our luck, I leant back in my chair to watch him play the hand.
He was just about to begin, when there was some commotion in the room, and I looked up to see two men in blue uniforms coming towards us with notebooks in their hands.
Brummer let out a violent oath, and muttered something about the —— inspectors. Lord Charles looked up at them and said: "Hullo! Come for a drink?"
They ignored this pleasantry, and the superior of them asked what stakes we were playing for.
"Club stakes, of course," said Brummer. "Pound points, and a hundred on the rubber."
This was a most unpleasant shock to me, until I reflected that the rubber was certainly ours by the cards on the table, and I need not play another one. So I was enabled to give my attention to the inspector, who enquired if I was a member of the club, and, when I said that I was a visitor, asked the name of my introducer.
Then he looked at the table and said: "None of you are drinking anything. When did you last imbibe?"
"A good idea!" said Lord Charles. "Let's have drinks all round. What's yours, Inspector?"
The inspector smiled indulgently, and went away to another table. Brummer and the other man immediately became violently abusive.