"Thus. You take one away and all the rest jump over each other. At each jump you remove the jumpee, and the object is to clear the board. Hence the name--solitaire." "I see. It seems a pretty rotten game." That made me angry. "All right. Then don't play. Have a game of marbles on the rack instead." Meanwhile Henry was introducing Bolton and the editor to each other. "Two such famous people," he began. "Everyone," said Bolton, with a bow, "knows the editor of----" "Oh yes, there's that. But I meant two such famous chess players. Bolton," he explained to the editor, "was twelfth man against Oxford some years ago. Something went wrong with his heart, or he'd have got in. On his day, and if the board was at all sticky, he used to turn a good deal from QB4." "Do you really play?" asked Bolton eagerly. "I have a board here." "Does he play! Do you mean to say you have never heard of the Trocadero Defence?" "The Sicilian Defence----" "The Trocadero Defence. It's where you palm the other man's queen when he's not looking. Most effective opening." They both seemed keen on beginning, so Henry got out the cards for the rest of us. I drew the younger journalist, against Henry and the senior stockbroker. Out of compliment to the journalist we arranged to play half-a-crown a hundred, that being about the price they pay him. I dealt, and a problem arose immediately. Here it is. "A deals and leaves it to his partner B, who goes No Trumps. Y leads a small heart. B's hand consists of king and three small diamonds, king and one other heart, king and three small clubs, and three small spades. A plays the king from Dummy, and Z puts on the ace. What should A do?" Answer. Ring communication-cord and ask guard to remove B. "Very well," I said to Dummy. "One thing's pretty clear. You don't bowl to-day. Long-leg both ends is about your mark. Somewhere where there's plenty of throwing to do." Later on, when I was Dummy, I strolled over to the chess players. "What's the ground like?" said the editor, as he finessed a knight. "Sporting. Distinctly sporting." "Long grass all round, I suppose?" "Oh, lord, no. The cows eat up all that." "Do you mean to say the cows are allowed on the pitch?" "Well, they don't put it that way, quite. The pitch is allowed on the cows' pasture land." "I suppose if we make a hundred we shall do well?" asked somebody. "If we make fifty we shall declare," I said. "By Jove, Bolton, that's a pretty smart move." I may not know all the technical terms, but I do understand the idea of chess. The editor was a pawn up and three to play, and had just advanced his queen against Bolton's king, putting on a lot of check side as it seemed to me. Of course, I expected Bolton would have to retire his king; but not he! He laid a stymie with his bishop, and it was the editor's queen that had to withdraw. Yet Bolton was only spare man at Cambridge!