A venerable pastime.

Darby and Joan have played it of evenings for the last thousand years.

Please go on." But Carlotta threw her cards on the table and herself on the sofa and said she would prefer to hear Pasquale talk.
"He says such funny things." Then she jumped from the sofa and handed him the box of chocolates that is never far from her side.

How lithe her movements are! "Pasquale says you were his schoolmaster, and used to beat him with a big stick," she remarked, turning her head toward me, while Pasquale helped himself to a sweet.
He was clumsy in his selection, and the box slipped from Carlotta's hand and the contents rolled upon the floor.

They both went on hands and knees to pick them up, and there was much laughing and whispering.
It is curious that I cannot recall Pasquale having alluded, in Carlotta's presence, to our early days.