[41] Evasive answers are of two kinds; those
(1) For the ordinary platitude, for which you will find good examples in Card Table Talk.
(2) For the blatant absurdity; these are more difficult, for while modestly asserting your own individuality, you must at the same time guard against
“Heating a furnace for your foe so hot,
That you do singe yourself.”
The following remark admirably fulfils both these conditions:—
“For the matter of that,” said Colonel Quagg, “Rot!”—Sala.
It should be addressed, kindly but firmly, to a point about eighteen inches above your partner’s head.
[42] A well-known whist-player who is really deaf is reported to aver that he never knew what comfort was till that misfortune befell him.
[43] Bad play is any kind of solecism perpetrated by somebody else; if by yourself, it may be either just your luck, pardonable inattention, playing too quickly, drawing the wrong card, or—in a very extreme case—carelessness, but it is never bad play; sometimes the difference is even greater than this, and what would be bad play in another, in yourself may be the acme of skill.