THEY    CO   HOME	581
a chance to speak. And I say-One No Trumps. Yes5
this is where your husband's allowed to speak, my dear.
Tee-tee-tee-tee-tee/'
They were a game all in this rubber? so Miss Verever
struggled up to Three Hearts, but her opponents went
Three No Trumps, got them, won the rubber, and put
her down eight hundred points.
"Is there time for another rubber?" said Mrs. Pear-
son, who was always quite willing to go on playing,
perhaps because she never really started.
"I hardly think there is," said Miss Verever, with one
of her peculiar smiles.
"No, let's stop now/' cried Mrs. Dersingham.
"Somebody owes me four and ninepence," Mr. Pear-
son pointed out.
"Listen to him! Isn't he really a dreadful man when
he plays this game. I believe I've lost four and nine-
or is it five and nine?" Mrs. Pearson shook her curls at
the score. "But I refuse to pay you anything, so there!"
'Tee-tee-tee-tee-tee."
"Well, I suppose I must pay my debts," said Miss
Verever, looking at her score as if it was composed of
something filthy, then glancing round without removing
all the last expression from her face. "I pay you, I think,
my dear. I'm afraid-yes, I'm afraid—I shall have to ask
you for change."
"It doesn't matter," said Mrs. Dersingham hastily.
"I haven't got any change,"
"Please remind me then, the next time." Miss
Verever said this as if they would soon be meeting in
some torture chamber.
Somebody had arrived. It must be-it was-Mr.
Dersingham. He came forward, blinking a little, His