‘Will your Majesty be pleased to draw your card?’ requested the sage. ‘If I might venture to offer your Majesty a hint, I would dare to recommend your Majesty not to play before your turn. My friends are fond of ascribing my success in my various missions to the possession of peculiar qualities. No such thing: I owe everything to the simple habit of always waiting till it is my turn to speak. And believe me, that he who plays before his turn at whist, commits as great a blunder as he who speaks before his turn during a negotiation.’ ‘The trick, and two by honours,’ said Proserpine. ‘Pray, my dear Tiresias, you who are such a fine player, how came you to trump my best card?’ ‘Because I wanted the lead. And those who want to lead, please your Majesty, must never hesitate about sacrificing their friends.’ ‘I believe you speak truly. I was right in playing that thirteenth card?’ ‘Quite so. Above all things, I love a thirteenth card. I send it forth, like a mock project in a revolution, to try the strength of parties.’ ‘You should not have forced me, Lady Manto,’ said the Captain of the yacht, in a grumbling tone, to his partner. ‘By weakening me, you prevented me bringing in my spades. We might have made the game.’ ‘You should not have been forced,’ said Tiresias. ‘If she made a mistake, who was unacquainted with your plans, what a terrible blunder you committed to share her error without her ignorance!’ ‘What, then, was I to lose a trick?’ ‘Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity,’ replied Tiresias, ‘the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.’ ‘I have cut you an honour, sir,’ said Manto. ‘Which reminds me,’ replied Tiresias, ‘that, in the last hand, your Majesty unfortunately forgot to lead through your adversary’s ace. I have often observed that nothing ever perplexes an adversary so much as an appeal to his honour.’ ‘I will not forget to follow your advice,’ said the Captain of the yacht, playing accordingly. ‘By which you have lost the game,’ quietly remarked Tiresias. ‘There are exceptions to all rules, but it seldom answers to follow the advice of an opponent.’ ‘Confusion!’ exclaimed the Captain of the yacht. ‘Four by honours, and the trick, I declare,’ said Proserpine. ‘I was so glad to see you turn up the queen, Tiresias.’ ‘I also, madam. Without doubt there are few cards better than her royal consort, or, still more, the imperial ace. Nevertheless, I must confess, I am perfectly satisfied whenever I remember that I have the Queen on my side.’ Proserpine bowed. ‘I have a good mind to do it, Tiresias,’ said Queen Proserpine, as that worthy sage paid his compliments to her at her toilet, at an hour which should have been noon. ‘It would be a great compliment,’ said Tiresias. ‘And it is not much out of our way?’ ‘By no means,’ replied the seer. ‘‘Tis an agreeable half-way house. He lives in good style.’ ‘And whence can a dethroned monarch gain a revenue?’ inquired the Queen.