[28] This is one of the numerous points where the new man and the man of the stone age—now politely termed “fossil”—come into collision. “We do not think that a hard and fast rule, (the italics are mine) such as you propose, can be laid down.” Even if it were a hard and fast rule—which it is pre-eminently not—his objecting to it on that ground would be most inconsistent—
“And yet he thinks what’s pious in
The one, in th’ other is a sin.”
[29] “About as remarkable as the rule that if you want to ascertain how much you have spent out of a shilling, you must subtract the number of pence left from twelve.
“If the court cards and the ace of a suit are pipped according to their values, the knave would be eleven, the queen twelve, the king thirteen, and the ace fourteen; and everybody would see that the difference between the pips on any card and fourteen would show the number of cards in the suit of higher value than the card in question.
“Thus, there are nine higher than the five, and seven higher than the seven.
“They would see, also, that if they could place three, and three only, of those cards in any one player’s hand—as can be done when the fourth best is led—the number of higher cards not in his hand would be fourteen, less three, that is eleven less the pips.”—Mogul.
“The mountain groaned in pangs of birth,
Great expectation filled the earth,
And lo, a mouse was born!”