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Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 February 1918, Page 3

It happened in a Christchurch auction room (says an exchange). She was determined to purchase a certain suite of furniture and gave her bids determinedly. In. the doorway stood a man of a type of bidder often seen at an action —a man who, with back turned to the proceedings, intimated his bid to the auctioneer by the simple and blase method of flicking the ash from his cigarette. The price rose as the result of competition between the two from £16 to £27, at which stage the flicking of the cigarette ccased, and the lady, in full triumph of the right to call the furniture her own, turned exultingly to her defeated rival. He also turned. There was a simultaneous gasp of amazement, as well there might—for they were husband and wife! Through a misunderstanding, both had attended the sale with the specific intention of purchasing the same thing, and hence the tragedy. Their little misunderstanding had resulted in a loss to them of £11.