Papa did not approve of Scott. Papa thinks that anyone who doesn’t know the cards couldn’t be a real enough man for his daughter! I tried to tell him, I know the cards, isn’t that enough. Scott knows all sorts of other things, and he’s a real man! I had to poke Scott to get him to stand up for himself at all. I’m afraid that papa’s exuberance struck poor gentle Scott dumb.
Scott whispered “but…” and that small whisper sent papa on such a frightening speech that I thought Scott would faint away. Papa was like a train engine that was being stuffed full of coal. He just kept huffing and puffing and blowing cigar smoke all over Scott, who was sweating and turning white and I was sure that he was going to faint right before he stood up and yelled, “Then I’ll play your card game! I’ll not just play it, I’ll win that big tournament that everyone’s talking about!”
That just took my breath away and papa’s too. He stood there, huffed and puffed, and then roared a laugh. “Well, if you think you can do it, go ahead and try! If you can win the tournament, I’ll gladly give you my daughter’s hand in marriage!”
But… Scott doesn’t know how to play boat! Can I teach him in time?
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