Following on from their enjoyable first Congress, Sinclair and Minnie had decided to attend another congress almost immediately. Blushingly modest as ever Minnie had arranged for them to have separate rooms at their hotel but a mix-up by the hotel resulted in their actually sharing not only a bedroom but also a large bed. They arrived too late on Friday evening to sort out this disaster. Minnie’s over-riding concern was not be seen by Sinclair in her nightwear as the single anomaly in her otherwise unblemished record of maidenly honour was a liking for sheer silk nighties.
With the impeccable manners of years of good breeding Sinclair agreed to their disrobing in the dark and they settled down to sleep lying as far apart from each other as possible. By a chain of events that is both too far-fetched and unsuitably indecorous to repeat, the morning found them lying in each other’s arms with beatific smiles on their faces. For once bridge was not on their minds – and that perhaps explains the strange and uncharacteristic aberration suffered by Sinclair on the first deal the tournament.
| ♠KQ93 ♥A ♦T7 ♣AKJ943 | ||
| ♠— ♥KQJT765 ♦AKQ42 ♣7 | ♠T876 ♥98 ♦98653 ♣52 | |
| ♠AJ542 ♥432 ♦J ♣QT86 |
Sinclair was South, and the dealer, West, opened a somewhat conservative 1♥. Minnie, with her strong hand and a good spade suit made the obvious double, East passed and Sinclair bid 1♠. You would think perhaps that Sinclair had rather unbid; surely 4♠ is even possible with his good 5 card suit and singleton diamond. In any event it was now impossible for Minnie to drive much further and, eventually East-West played in 5♦ making – a huge score for them when Minnie and Sinclair could make 6♠.
The explanation? Sinclair had not seen Minnie’s take-out double and, in his eyes, 1♠ was a light balancing bid!
Sinclair apologised. It was Minnie’s turn to be magnanimous and the warm glow of her requited love brought forth the sweet and memorable rejoinder “Nothing at the bridge table could spoil my happiness, my dearest partner”.
Minnie’s generous forgiveness so eloquently expressed would certainly have made Sinclair declare one of his epic gallantries. But Minnie put her finger to her lips and he realised that the best way to make recompense was to regain his concentration and play his best bridge. An opportunity presented itself shortly.
| ♠Q985 ♥AKJ6 ♦A97 ♣62 | ||
| ♠432 ♥9432 ♦5 ♣AKQT5 | ♠7 ♥QT8 ♦KQT8643 ♣84 | |
| ♠AKJT6 ♥75 ♦J2 ♣J963 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 3♦ | 3♠ | ||
| Pass | 4♦ | Pass | 4♠ |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
Minnie had just learnt about unassuming cue bids but anything as daring as that made her heart palpitate. Sinclair judged that his 7 loser hand didn’t warrant a slam try and they settled in game. West led his partner’s suit, ♦5. Sinclair saw that he could make his contract by ruffing two clubs in dummy so long as he didn’t draw any trumps at first. Was there anything better? He thought long and hard, badly wanting to atone for his earlier error. Eventually he saw a chance and played as follows:
He won ♦A, cashed ♥A and ♥K, and ruffed a heart in his hand. The fall of ♥Q made his eyes gleam. He re-entered dummy with a trump noting that East showed out. Now he could play ♥J discarding a diamond from his hand and ruff a diamond with the last trump in his hand. This brought him 11 tricks and a good match-point score.
But, best of all, Minnie had followed the play closely even if she had not fully understood his strategy. Her smile of approval was all the reward he needed.
Bridge Romances 
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