“Well, you see, you either make or go back,” continued Tom. “Plus and minus, you know. Joker is high, then right bower, left, and ace. Then—uh—let’s see; high bid takes the cat—widdie, you know—and discards. Ten tricks. Follow suit like whist, of course. I guess that’s all—that ought to give you the hang of it, anyway. I bid six on no trump.”
As Tom Poppins finished these instructions, given in the card-player’s rapid don’t-ask-me-any-more-fool-questions manner, Mr. Wrenn felt that he was choking. He craned up his neck, trying to ease his stiff collar. So, then, he was a failure, a social outcast already.
So, then, he couldn’t learn Five Hundred! And he had been very proud of knowing one card from another perfectly, having played a number of games of two-handed poker with Tim on the cattle-boat. But what the dickens did “left—cat—follow suit” mean?
And to fail with Nelly watching him! He pulled at his collar again.
Thus he reflected while Mrs. Arty and Tom were carrying on the following brilliant but cryptic society-dialogue:
Mrs. Arty: Well, I don’t know.
Tom: Not failure, but low bid is crime, little one.
Mrs. Arty: Mary, shall I make—
Tom: Hey! No talking ’cross table!
Mrs. Arty: Um—let—me—see.