“But I have an engagement on; I am to win some money of the doctor here, for my poor people.”
“Didn’t know it was the correct thing to gamble to win money for charity.”
“Oh, I often do,” said the vicar, pleasantly. “Now I’ll be bound, Mr Glaire, if I’d asked you for a couple of guineas to distribute, you’d think me a great bore.”
“You may depend upon that,” said Richard. “I never give in charity.”
“But at the same time, you would not much mind if I won that sum from you at whist.”
“You’d have to win it first,” said Richard, with a sneer.
“Exactly,” said the vicar; “and I might lose.”
“There, don’t talk,” said Richard; “let’s play. Come along, mamma.”
Mrs Glaire was about to excuse herself, but seeing her son’s looks, she thought better of her decision, and to keep peace went up to the table; Eve saying she would look on.
It fell about then that the vicar and Mrs Glaire were partners, and as sometimes happens, Richard and his partner, the doctor, had the most atrocious of hands almost without exception. This joined to the fact that Mrs Glaire played with shrewdness, and the vicar admirably, so disgusted Richard that at last he threw down the cards in a pet, vowing he would play no more.