The Queen of Spades | Page 2

making him swear never to use them again. He returned to the
game, staked fifty thousand rubles on each card, and came out ahead,
after paying his debts."
As day was dawning the party now broke up, each one draining his
glass and taking his leave.
The Countess Anna Fedorovna was seated before her mirror in her
dressing-room. Three women were assisting at her toilet. The old
Countess no longer made the slightest pretensions to beauty, but she
still clung to all the habits of her youth, and spent as much time at her
toilet as she had done sixty years before. At the window a young girl,
her ward, sat at her needlework.
"Good afternoon, grandmother," cried a young officer, who had just
entered the room. "I have come to ask a favor of you."
"What, Pavel?"
"I want to be allowed to present one of my friends to you, and to take
you to the ball on Tuesday night."
"Take me to the ball and present him to me there."
After a few more remarks the officer walked up to the window where

Lisaveta Ivanovna sat.
"Whom do you wish to present?" asked the girl.
"Naroumov; do you know him?"
"No; is he a soldier?"
"Yes."
"An engineer?"
"No; why do you ask?"
The girl smiled and made no reply.
Pavel Tomsky took his leave, and, left to herself, Lisaveta glanced out
of the window. Soon, a young officer appeared at the corner of the
street; the girl blushed and bent her head low over her canvas.
This appearance of the officer had become a daily occurrence. The man
was totally unknown to her, and as she was not accustomed to
coquetting with the soldiers she saw on the street, she hardly knew how
to explain his presence. His persistence finally roused an interest
entirely strange to her. One day, she even ventured to smile upon her
admirer, for such he seemed to be.
The reader need hardly be told that the officer was no other than
Herman, the would-be gambler, whose imagination had been strongly
excited by the story told by Tomsky of the three magic cards.
"Ah," he thought, "if the old Countess would only reveal the secret to
me. Why not try to win her good-will and appeal to her sympathy?"
With this idea in mind, he took up his daily station before the house,
watching the pretty face at the window, and trusting to fate to bring
about the desired acquaintance.
One day, as Lisaveta was standing on the pavement about to enter the

carriage after the Countess, she felt herself jostled and a note was thrust
into her hand. Turning, she saw the young officer at her elbow. As
quick as thought, she put the note in her glove and entered the carriage.
On her return from the drive, she hastened to her chamber to read the
missive, in a state of excitement mingled with fear. It was a tender and
respectful declaration of affection, copied word for word from a
German novel. Of this fact, Lisa was, of course, ignorant.
The young girl was much impressed by the missive, but she felt that the
writer must not be encouraged. She therefore wrote a few lines of
explanation and, at the first opportunity, dropped it, with the letter, out
of the window. The officer hastily crossed the street, picked up the
papers and entered a shop to read them.
In no wise daunted by this rebuff, he found the opportunity to send her
another note in a few days. He received no reply, but, evidently
understanding the female heart, he presevered, begging for an interview.
He was rewarded at last by the following:
"To-night we go to the ambassador's ball. We shall remain until two
o'clock. I can arrange for a meeting in this way. After our departure, the
servants will probably all go out, or go to sleep. At half-past eleven
enter the vestibule boldly, and if you see any one, inquire for the
Countess; if not, ascend the stairs, turn to the left and go on until you
come to a door, which opens into her bedchamber. Enter this room and
behind a screen you will find another door leading to a corridor; from
this a spiral staircase leads to my sitting-room. I shall expect to find
you there on my return."
Herman trembled like a leaf as the appointed hour drew near. He
obeyed instructions fully, and, as he met no one, he reached the old
lady's bedchamber without difficulty. Instead of going out of the small
door behind the screen, however, he concealed himself in a closet to
await the return of the old Countess.
The hours dragged slowly by; at last he heard the sound of wheels.
Immediately lamps were