"Just what I say. I want you to play cards with me."

"I'll not to do it," he declared, almost coldly.

"Listen to me, Condy," answered Blix; and for quite five minutes,
while he interrupted and protested and pshawed and argued, she
talked to him calmly and quietly.

"I don't ask you to stop playing, Condy," she said, as she
finished; "I just ask you that when you feel you must play--or--I
mean, when you want to very bad, you will come and play with me,
instead of playing at your club."

"But it's absurd, it's preposterous. I hate to see a girl
gambling--and you of all girls!"

"It's no worse for me than it is for you and--well, do you suppose
I would play with any one else? Maybe you think I can't play well
enough to make it interesting for you," she said gayly. "Is that
it? I can soon show you, Condy Rivers--never mind when I learned
how."

"But, Blix, you don't know how often we play, those men and I.
Why, it is almost every--you don't know how often we play."

"Condy, whenever you want to play, and will play with ME, no
matter what I've got in hand, I'll stop everything and play with
you."