Fiction ~ short story
Published 21st November 1894
Approx. 1,800 words
(First read 27/12/1994)
My original 1994 review of this one was a tad dismissive:
A fishing story. Picture this: I'm sitting in my London club on a dreary afternoon in November at the tail end of the 19th century. All inside is snug as a bug; I've just had a splendid lunch. I pick up The Sketch and find in it a new story by 'that Benson cove'. "Jolly good," I think to myself; "he's always good to pass an idle moment." I embark on George's Secret ... and after no more than two minutes I'm sound asleep.
I re-read it last June (2013) and actually found it quite funny. It's the simple tale of a chap who, having never fished before, goes at it like a bull angling for Dresden figurines, and ~ much to the displeasure of his pals ~ has stupendous beginner's luck. When he introduces 'Art' to his technique, the streak fails. Available in Fine Feathers and Other Stories (1994).
Fiction ~ playlet/dialogue
Published in Lady's Realm, November 1903
Collected in Desirable Residences and Other Stories (1991)
Approx. 3,100 words
(First read 13/05/1992)
As with others of EFB's 'special interest' stories¹, you don't absolutely have to be an expert or at least an initiate ~ but it would certainly help. All it is is a game ('rubber') of bridge in dialogue form. There's a bit of the usual epigrammatic banter between Lady Witham, the fiend of the title, and her pal Mrs Spencer at the beginning, and the interplay between the four players ~ the two men turn out to be far more vapid and distracting chatterboxes than the ladies ~ is vaguely amusing, but if you happen not to know how to play bridge², about 80% of it will go over the top of your head. It is at least fairly brief.
¹ The ones I can think of off-hand are George's Secret (1894: fishing) and The Valkyries (1903: cretinous operas).
² I tried teaching myself once but had to give it up due to a lack of: (1) three other people to play with; (2) an ability to absorb anything in How To Play Bridge; and (3) an overwhelming sense of tedium. Yes, I've always felt at something of a disadvantage when reading E. F. Benson, where the game often features pretty highly.
QUOTABLES
After dinner and before they sit down to their game, the bridge fiend and friend comment on the trials of house-party life. The fiend speaks thusly:
Really, I think that to join in a flow of polite conversation is the most fatiguing thing that can happen to one ~ so enfeebling to the intellect, too, especially sitting in the open air. I have been flowing, leaking rather, for the last hour and a half. Well, a rubber will restore us, I hope.
