People love to call them intellectual pastimes; but, surely, if a man wants exercise for his intellect, there are enough problems in this complicated universe for him to worry his brains over, with more profit to himself and the world.

And as for the pastime--I consider that when two or more intelligent people sit down to play cards they are insulting one another's powers of conversation.

These remarks do not apply to my game with Carlotta, who is a child, and has to be amused.

She has picked up cribbage with remarkable quickness, and although this is only the third evening we have played, she was getting the better of me when Pasquale appeared.
I repeated my statement.

Cribbage certainly was an excellent game.
Pasquale laughed.
"Of course it is.