"Ain't you never played at all?" she ast me; and I told her no.
"The first thing," she says, "is how much the different suits counts; and then they's the bids. And you got to pay attention to the conventions."
"I'm through with 'em forever," I says, "since they turned down Roosevelt."
Well, we started in and Hatch and the Missus played Mrs. Hatch and I. We kept at it till pretty near midnight, with three or four intermissions so as Hatch could relieve the strain on the ice-box. My w'ist education kept me from bein' much of a flivver when it come to playin' the cards; but, I don't care how bright a guy is, you can't learn everything about biddin' in one evenin', and you can't remember half what you learnt. I don't know what the score was when we got through, but the Hatches done most o' the execution and held most o' the cards, which is their regular habit.
"You'll get along all right," says Mrs. Hatch when they was ready to go. "But, o' course, you can't expect to master a game like bridge in a few hours. You want to keep at it."
"We're goin' to," says the Missus.
"Maybe it'd be a good idear," says Mrs. Hatch, "to play again soon before you forget what we learnt you. Why don't you come over to our house for another session to-morrow night?"
"Let's see; to-morrow night?" says the Missus, stallin'. "Why, no, we can't. We got an engagement."
So Mrs. Hatch stood there like she was expectin' to hear what it was.
"We're goin' to a party," says the Wife.