Agnes is a patience or solitaire card game that emerged in England about the same time as Klondike appeared in the US. The classic version has the unusual feature of packing in colour, a feature it shares with Whitehead. By contrast, the later American variant appears to have been influenced by Klondike with packing is in alternate colours. The classic game has been described as the best single-pack patience yet invented. History The earliest account is given by Dalton in The Strand Magazine in 1909, who described "The Agnes" as "by far the best and most interesting one-pack Patience which has yet been invented." He believed that its rules had not been published before, even by Miss Whitmore Jones, the most prolific patience writer of that time. For him a distinguishing feature was that cards were packed in the same colour, not alternating colours as is usual. Despite Dalton's endorsement, the game does not appear regularly in the compendia until after the Second World War. However, during the 1930s and 1940s, a new variant appeared, possibly influenced by the rise of Klondike which it resembles much more closely than the original game. This introduced a reserve row of cards and packing was in the usual alternating colour sequence. In 1979 David Parlett gave 'surnames' to the two main variants of Agnes to distinguish between them. Both variants continue to be published. Rules Classic rules or Agnes Sorel These are Dalton's 1909 original rules, which are still followed. Parlett calls this variant Agnes Sorel, after the mistress of Charles VII of France, whose image is believed to be that of Rachel on traditional French pattern card packs. The game's distinguishing features are that the tableau is packed in colour and there is no reserve. After shuffling, twenty-eight cards are dealt, face up, in seven rows and aligned left. The first row has seven cards, the second six cards and so on. The tableau thus forms a right-angled triangle. The twenty-ninth card is turned up and placed above the tableau as the first "master card" (foundation card). The remaining three master cards are those of the same rank as the first and are placed in a row to its right when they become available. The aim is to build on the master cards in suit and ascending sequence, turning the corner with the Aces if necessary. The lowest card in each column