Gordon and Frieda were defending a tricky slam contract. The bidding had been swift:
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | Pass | Pass | 1♠ |
| Pass | 3♠ | Pass | 6♠ |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
and Frieda, sitting West, led the ♣2. Looking at her feeble collection
♠65 ♥K2 ♦J432 ♣75432
she did not have much hope of defeating the contract. Her only significant card was ♥K. “Better use that to good effect” she thought. So intent on that thought was she that, when declarer casually played the ♥A to the second trick, Frieda accidentally played her King! Realising immediately, she flushed but otherwise remained impassive. The full hand was
| ♠QT984 ♥J94 ♦A6 ♣KT9 | ||
| ♠65 ♥K2 ♦J432 ♣75432 | ♠32 ♥QT753 ♦Q85 ♣QJ6 | |
| ♠AKJ7 ♥A86 ♦KT97 ♣A8 |
In due course, the contract failed by one trick much to Frieda’s relief. “Brilliant, Frieda” said Gordon.
“Um, thank you, Gordon, I . . . ”.
Gordon continued. “If you hadn’t thrown your King under the Ace of hearts, declarer would have drawn trumps, cashed the top cards in diamonds and clubs, ruffed a diamond, ruffed a club, ruffed a diamond to get to this position:”
♠Q ♥J9 ♦— ♣— | ||
| ♠— ♥K ♦— ♣75 | ♠— ♥QT7 ♦— ♣— | |
| ♠J ♥86 ♦— ♣— |
“Then he would have played a heart for you to take with your King and you would have had to concede a ruff and discard. But, since you had discarded your King already, I took the heart and cashed another heart winner”.
Frieda had to confess that her brilliancy was inadvertent hoping that Gordon wouldn’t think less of her. But her honesty and her heart play had quite won his own heart.
Bridge Romances 
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