FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48  
49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   >>   >|  
insky, politely. Hermann started; instead of an ace, there lay before him the queen of spades! He could not believe his eyes, nor could he understand how he had made such a mistake. At that moment it seemed to him that the queen of spades smiled ironically, and winked her eye at him. He was struck by her remarkable resemblance.... "The old Countess!" he exclaimed, seized with terror. Chekalinsky gathered up his winnings. For some time Hermann remained perfectly motionless. When at last he left the table, there was a general commotion in the room. "Splendidly punted!" said the players. Chekalinsky shuffled the cards afresh, and the game went on as usual. * * * * * Hermann went out of his mind, and is now confined in room number seventeen of the Oboukhoff Hospital. He never answers any questions, but he constantly mutters with unusual rapidity: "Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen!" Lizaveta Ivanovna has married a very amiable young man, a son of the former steward of the old Countess. He is in the service of the State somewhere, and is in receipt of a good income. Lizaveta is also supporting a poor relative. Tomsky has been promoted to the rank of captain, and has become the husband of the Princess Pauline. FOOTNOTES OF _THE QUEEN OF SPADES_: [1: Said of a card when it wins or loses in the quickest possible time.] [2: Diminutive of Lizaveta (Elizabeth).] VERA JELIHOVSKY _THE GENERAL'S WILL_ I It happened in winter, just before the holidays. Ivan Feodorovitch Lobnitchenko, the lawyer, whose office is in one of the main streets of St. Petersburg, was called hurriedly to witness the last will and testament of one at the point of death. The sick man was not strictly a client of Ivan Feodorovitch; under other circumstances, he might have refused to make this late call, after a day's heavy toil ... but the dying man was an aristocrat and a millionaire, and such as he meet no refusals, whether in life, or, much more, at the moment of death. Lobnitchenko, taking a secretary and everything necessary, with a sigh scratched himself behind the ear, and thrusting aside the thought of the delightful evening at cards that awaited him, set out to go to the sick man. General Iuri Pavlovitch Nasimoff was far gone. Even the most compassionate doctors did not give him many days to live, when he finally decided to destroy the will which he had made long ago
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48  
49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Lizaveta

 

Hermann

 

Chekalinsky

 

Countess

 

Lobnitchenko

 

Feodorovitch

 

moment

 

spades

 
finally
 

Elizabeth


witness

 

testament

 

strictly

 
client
 

circumstances

 
Diminutive
 
JELIHOVSKY
 
hurriedly
 

holidays

 
winter

happened

 

destroy

 

GENERAL

 

lawyer

 

streets

 

Petersburg

 

called

 

office

 

decided

 
thrusting

scratched
 
compassionate
 
thought
 

delightful

 

Nasimoff

 

General

 
evening
 
awaited
 
secretary
 

Pavlovitch


aristocrat
 

millionaire

 

taking

 

refusals

 

doctors

 

refused

 

motionless

 

general

 

perfectly

 

remained