“Give you a reasonable number of points to make a game of it.”
It was quite obvious that Wraxall did not care to play, and Douglas refrained from pressing him. Westenhanger looked out of the window.
“A soaker of a day! We’ll have to put in the time somehow. Come along, Douglas. We’re bored stiff. Trot out some of your parlour tricks and keep us amused. Anything’s better than nothing.”
“I don’t quite like the way you put it, Conway,” protested Douglas, with a grin. “You haven’t just got the knack of the felicitous phrase, as it were. You mean well, and all that; but somehow you don’t just bring it off.”
“Produce you’re latest, anyhow. The only stipulation I make is that you don’t try to interest us in Find the Lady or the Elusive Pea. These are barred. But if you can make any money off me by other methods, you’re welcome to it.”
He sat down and the others followed his example. Douglas considered for a moment and then took a Swan vesta box from his pocket.
“My sleight of hand’s a bit rusty, I’m afraid,” he apologised. “But perhaps I might manage to pull off this one if you haven’t seen it before. Got a florin by any chance, Wraxall?”
The American searched his pockets.
“A florin,” he inquired, “that’s what you call a two-shilling piece, isn’t it? This coinage of yours always makes me want to think before I can be sure about it.”
He found his florin and handed it across to Douglas, who refused it.