"Oh, tush, both of you," said Peaches; "John said that very thing to me three weeks before we were married." "Sure I did," I went back, "and we're still in the Garden, aren't we? Of course, if you want to sub-let part of it and have Hep and his bride roaming moon-struck through your strawberry beds, that's up to you!" "Well," said friend wife, "being alone in the Garden of Eden is all right, but after you've been there three or four years there's a mild excitement in hearing a strange voice, even if it is that of a Serpent!" Close the door, Delia, I feel a draft. CHAPTER VIII YOU SHOULD WORRY ABOUT AUCTION BRIDGE Receiving letters which I promptly forget to answer is a hobby with me. The disease must be hereditary--possibly from my grandfather, who was a village postmaster. He used to get a lot of letters he never answered. (Man the life-line, lads; we'll get him ashore yet!) Well, here's one I am going to answer. It's a bit of literature that reached me a day or two ago, chaperoned by a two-cent stamp and a hunk of pale green sealing-wax. Philadelphia, Lately. Dear John:--I have never met you personally, but I've heard my brother, Teddy, speak of you so often that you really seem to be one of the family. (Teddy talks slang something fierce.) Dear John, will you please pardon the liberty I take in grabbing a two-cent stamp and jumping so unceremoniously at one who is, after all, a perfect stranger? Dear John, if you look around you can see on every hand that the glad season of the year is nearly here, and if you listen attentively you may hear the hoarse cry of the summer resort beckoning us to that bourne from which no traveler returns without getting his pocketbook dislocated. Dear John, could you please tell me how to play auction bridge, so that when I go to the seashore I will be armed for defraying expenses? Dear John, I am sure that if I could play auction bridge loud enough to win four dollars every once in a while I could spend a large bunch of the summer at the seashore. Dear John, would you tell a loving but perfect stranger how to play the game without having to wear a mask? [Illustration] Dear John, I played a couple of games recently with a wide-faced young man who grew very playful and threw the parlor furniture at me because I trumpeted his ace. I fancy I must have did wrong. The fifth time I trumpeted his ace the young man arose, put on his gum shoes, and skeedaddled out of the house. Is it not considered a breach of etiquette to put on gum shoes in the presence of a lady? If you please, dear John, tell me how to play auction bridge. Yours fondly, GLADYS JONES.