I did not answer for a moment. I was overwhelmed and intoxicated. I had read of there being such a thing as The Perfect Winning⁠—going Mah Jong on one’s original hand. I had never hoped to hold the hand myself.

With suppressed triumph I laid my hand face upwards on the table.

“As they say in the Shanghai Club,” I remarked⁠—“Tin-ho⁠—the Perfect Winning!”

The colonel’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

“Upon my soul,” he said. “What an extraordinary thing. I never saw that happen before!”

It was then that I went on, goaded by Caroline’s gibes, and rendered reckless by my triumph.

“And as to anything interesting,” I said. “What about a gold wedding ring with a date and ‘From R. ’ inside.”