I said that I believed she unquestionably could.
“And,” said the Virginian, “if Essex's play got next her too near, I reckon she'd have stacked the cyards. Say, d' yu' remember Shakespeare's fat man?”
“Falstaff? Oh, yes, indeed.”
“Ain't that grand? Why, he makes men talk the way they do in life. I reckon he couldn't get printed to-day. It's a right down shame Shakespeare couldn't know about poker. He'd have had Falstaff playing all day at that Tearsheet outfit. And the Prince would have beat him.”
“The Prince had the brains,” said I.
“Brains?”
“Well, didn't he?”
“I neveh thought to notice. Like as not he did.”
“And Falstaff didn't, I suppose?”
“Oh, yes, seh! Falstaff could have played whist.”