Online reading of the book The Queen of Spades I. Online reading of the book The Queen of Spades I Story of the Queen of Spades full content
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin
The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades means secret ill will.
The newest fortune-telling book
And on rainy days
They were going
Bent - God forgive them! -
From fifty
And won
And wrote off
So, on rainy days,
They were engaged
Once we played cards at the horse guard Narumov. The long winter night passed unnoticed; sat down to supper at five o'clock in the morning. Those who won ate with great appetite; others, absent-mindedly, sat in front of their empty instruments. But the champagne appeared, the conversation became more lively, and everyone took part in it.
- What have you done, Surin? The owner asked.
- Lost, as usual. I must admit that I am unhappy: I play with Mirandole, I never get excited, nothing will confuse me, but I keep losing!
- And you have never been tempted? never bet on rue? .. Your firmness is amazing to me.
- And what is Hermann! - said one of the guests, pointing to the young engineer, - he never took cards in his hands, when he was born, he never bent a single password, but until five o'clock he sits with us and looks at our game!
- The game interests me greatly, - said Hermann, - but I am not able to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of acquiring the superfluous.
- Hermann is German: he is calculating, that's all! - remarked Tomsky. - And if someone is incomprehensible to me, it is my grandmother, Countess Anna Fedotovna.
- How? what? The guests shouted.
- I cannot comprehend, - continued Tomsky, - how my grandmother does not understand!
- Why is it surprising, - said Narumov, - that the eighty-year old woman does not understand?
- So you don't know anything about her?
- No! really nothing!
- Oh, so listen:
You must know that my grandmother, sixty years ago, went to Paris and was in great fashion there. The people ran after her to see la Vénus moscovite; Richelieu trailed after her, and grandmother assures that he almost shot himself from her cruelty.
At that time, the ladies were playing Pharaoh. Once at court, she lost a lot to the Duke of Orleans. Arriving home, grandmother, peeling off the flies from her face and untie the tansy, announced her loss to grandfather and ordered him to pay.
The late grandfather, as far as I remember, was the family of the grandmother's butler. He was afraid of her like fire; however, hearing about such a terrible loss, he lost his temper, brought the bills, proved to her that in six months they had spent half a million, that they had neither a Moscow region nor a Saratov village near Paris, and completely refused to pay. Grandmother gave him a slap in the face and went to bed alone, as a sign of her disfavor.
The next day she ordered her husband to be called, hoping that the domestic punishment had worked on him, but she found him unshakable. For the first time in her life, she went with him to reasoning and explanation; I thought to convince him, condescendingly proving that debt is a debt, and that there is a difference between a prince and a coachman. - Where! grandfather rebelled. No, and only! Grandma didn't know what to do.
A very remarkable person was briefly acquainted with her. You have heard of the Comte Saint-Germain, about whom so many wonderful things are told. You know that he posed as the Eternal Jew, the inventor of the life elixir and the philosopher's stone, and so on. They laughed at him as at a charlatan, and Casanova in her Notes says that he was a spy; however, Saint-Germain, in spite of his mystery, had a very respectable appearance and was a very amiable person in society. Grandmother still loves him without memory and is angry if they speak of him with disrespect. Grandma knew that Saint-Germain could have a lot of money. She decided to resort to him. I wrote him a note and asked him to come to her immediately.
The old eccentric appeared at once and found him in terrible grief. She described to him in the blackest colors her husband's barbarism and said at last that she was placing all her hope in his friendship and kindness.
Saint-Germain considered.
“I can serve you with this sum,” he said, “but I know that you will not be calm until you pay me off, and I would not want to introduce you to new troubles. There is another remedy: you can win back. " "But, my dear count," replied the grandmother, "I tell you that we have no money at all." “No money is needed here,” said Saint-Germain, “please listen to me.” Then he revealed to her a secret, for which each of us would give dearly ...
Young players redoubled their attention. Tomsky lit his pipe, inhaled and continued.
That same evening, my grandmother appeared at Versailles, au jeu de la Reine. Duke of Orleans metal; the grandmother slightly apologized for not bringing her debt, weaved a little story as an excuse and began to poke at him against him. She chose three cards, put them one after another: all three won her sonic, and the grandmother won back completely.
- The case! - said one of the guests.
- Fairy tale! - said Hermann.
- Maybe powder cards? - picked up the third.
“I don’t think so,” Tomsky answered importantly.
- How! - said Narumov, - you have a grandmother who guesses three cards in a row, and you still haven't adopted her cabalism from her?
- Yes, hell with two! - answered Tomsky - she had four sons, including my father: all four are desperate gamblers, and she did not reveal her secret to any of them; though it would not be bad for them and even for me. But this is what my uncle, Count Ivan Ilyich, told me, and of which he assured me with honor. The late Chaplitsky, the one who died in poverty, squandering millions, once in his youth lost - I remember Zorich - about three hundred thousand. He was desperate. Grandmother, who has always been strict with the pranks of young people, somehow took pity on Chaplitsky. She gave him three cards, so that he put them one after the other, and took from him his word of honor to never play again. Chaplitsky came to his winner: they sat down to play. Chaplitsky put fifty thousand on the first card and won Sonic; turned down passwords, passwords-ne, - won back and remained a winner ...
But it's time to sleep: it's already a quarter to six.
In fact, it was already dawn: the young people finished their glasses and departed.
- II paraît que monsieur est décidément pour les suivantes.
- Que voulez-vous, inadame? Elles sont plus fraîches.
Secular talk
The old Countess *** was sitting in her dressing room in front of the mirror. Three girls surrounded her. One held a can of blush, the other a box of hairpins, and the third a tall cap with fiery ribbons. The Countess had not the slightest claim to beauty, long faded, but she retained all the habits of her youth, strictly followed the fashions of the seventies and dressed as long, as diligently as she had sixty years ago. A young lady, her pupil, was sitting at the window at the embroidery frame.
“Hello, grand'maman,” the young officer said as he entered. - Bon jour, mademoiselle Lise. Grand'maman, I'm asking you.
- What is it, Paul?
“Let me introduce you to one of my friends and bring him to you on Friday for the ball.
- Bring it to me straight to the ball, and then you will introduce it to me. Did you visit *** yesterday?
- How! it was a lot of fun; danced until five o'clock. How good Yeletskaya was!
- And, my dear! What's good about it? Was her grandmother, Princess Darya Petrovna like that? .. By the way: I’m tea, she has grown very old, Princess Darya Petrovna?
- How old? - answered Tomsky absentmindedly, - she died seven years ago.
The young lady raised her head and made a sign to the young man. He remembered that the death of her peers was concealed from the old countess, and bit his lip. But the Countess heard the message, new to her, with great indifference.
- She's dead! - she said, - and I did not know! Together we were granted maids of honor, and when we introduced ourselves, the empress ...
And the Countess told her grandson her anecdote for the hundredth time.
“Well, Paul,” she said afterwards, “now help me up. Lizanka, where is my snuffbox?
And the countess with her girls went behind the screens to finish her toilet. Tomsky stayed with the young lady.
- Whom do you want to represent? - Lizaveta Ivanovna asked quietly.
- Narumova. Do you know him?
- No! Is he a military man or a civil servant?
- Military.
- Engineer?
- No! cavalryman. Why did you think he was an engineer?
The young lady laughed and did not answer a word.
- Paul! - shouted the countess from behind the screens, - send me some new novel, but please, not from the current ones.
- How is it, grand'maman?
- That is, such a novel, where the hero would not crush either the father or the mother, and where there would be no drowned bodies. I am terribly afraid of the drowned!
- There are no such novels today. Do you want Russians?
- Are there any Russian novels? .. Come, father, please come!
- Excuse me, grand'maman: I'm in a hurry ... Excuse me, Lizaveta Ivanovna! Why did you think that Narumov was an engineer?
And Tomsky left the lavatory.
Lizaveta Ivanovna was left alone: \u200b\u200bshe left her work and began to look out the window. Soon, on one side of the street, a young officer appeared from behind a coal house. A blush covered her cheeks: she went back to work and bent her head over the canvas itself. At this moment the Countess entered, fully dressed.
The Queen of Spades means secret ill will.
The newest fortune-telling book
I
And on rainy days
They were going
Bent - God forgive them! -
From fifty
And won
And wrote off
So, on rainy days,
They were engaged
Once we played cards at the horse guard Narumov. The long winter night passed unnoticed; sat down to supper at five o'clock in the morning. Those who won ate with great appetite; others, absent-mindedly, sat in front of their empty instruments. But the champagne appeared, the conversation became more lively, and everyone took part in it.
- What have you done, Surin? The owner asked.
- Lost, as usual. I must admit that I am unhappy: I play with Mirandole, I never get excited, nothing will confuse me, but I keep losing!
- And you have never been tempted? never bet on rue? .. Your firmness is amazing to me.
- And what is Hermann! - said one of the guests, pointing to the young engineer, - he never took cards in his hands, when he was born, he never bent a single password, but until five o'clock he sits with us and looks at our game!
- The game interests me greatly, - said Hermann, - but I am not able to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of acquiring the superfluous.
- Hermann is German: he is calculating, that's all! - remarked Tomsky. - And if someone is incomprehensible to me, it is my grandmother, Countess Anna Fedotovna.
- How? what? The guests shouted.
- I cannot comprehend, - continued Tomsky, - how my grandmother does not understand!
- Why is it surprising, - said Narumov, - that the eighty-year old woman does not understand?
- So you don't know anything about her?
- No! really nothing!
- Oh, so listen:
You must know that my grandmother, sixty years ago, went to Paris and was in great fashion there. The people ran after her to see la Vénus moscovite; Richelieu trailed after her, and grandmother assures that he almost shot himself from her cruelty.
At that time, the ladies were playing Pharaoh. Once at court, she lost a lot to the Duke of Orleans. Arriving home, grandmother, peeling off the flies from her face and untie the tansy, announced her loss to grandfather and ordered him to pay.
The late grandfather, as far as I remember, was the family of the grandmother's butler. He was afraid of her like fire; however, hearing about such a terrible loss, he lost his temper, brought the bills, proved to her that in six months they had spent half a million, that they had neither a Moscow region nor a Saratov village near Paris, and completely refused to pay. Grandmother gave him a slap in the face and went to bed alone, as a sign of her disfavor.
The next day she ordered her husband to be called, hoping that the domestic punishment had worked on him, but she found him unshakable. For the first time in her life, she went with him to reasoning and explanation; I thought to convince him, condescendingly proving that debt is a debt, and that there is a difference between a prince and a coachman. - Where! grandfather rebelled. No, and only! Grandma didn't know what to do.
A very remarkable person was briefly acquainted with her. You have heard of the Comte Saint-Germain, about whom so many wonderful things are told. You know that he posed as the Eternal Jew, the inventor of the life elixir and the philosopher's stone, and so on. They laughed at him as at a charlatan, and Casanova in her Notes says that he was a spy; however, Saint-Germain, in spite of his mystery, had a very respectable appearance and was a very amiable person in society. Grandmother still loves him without memory and is angry if they speak of him with disrespect. Grandma knew that Saint-Germain could have a lot of money. She decided to resort to him. I wrote him a note and asked him to come to her immediately.
The old eccentric appeared at once and found him in terrible grief. She described to him in the blackest colors her husband's barbarism and said at last that she was placing all her hope in his friendship and kindness.
Saint-Germain considered.
“I can serve you with this sum,” he said, “but I know that you will not be calm until you pay me off, and I would not want to introduce you to new troubles. There is another remedy: you can win back. " "But, my dear count," replied the grandmother, "I tell you that we have no money at all." “No money is needed here,” said Saint-Germain, “please listen to me.” Then he revealed to her a secret, for which each of us would give dearly ...
Young players redoubled their attention. Tomsky lit his pipe, inhaled and continued.
That same evening, my grandmother appeared at Versailles, au jeu de la Reine. Duke of Orleans metal; the grandmother slightly apologized for not bringing her debt, weaved a little story as an excuse and began to poke at him against him. She chose three cards, put them one after another: all three won her sonic, and the grandmother won back completely.
- The case! - said one of the guests.
- Fairy tale! - said Hermann.
- Maybe powder cards? - picked up the third.
“I don’t think so,” Tomsky answered importantly.
- How! - said Narumov, - you have a grandmother who guesses three cards in a row, and you still haven't adopted her cabalism from her?
- Yes, hell with two! - answered Tomsky - she had four sons, including my father: all four are desperate gamblers, and she did not reveal her secret to any of them; though it would not be bad for them and even for me. But this is what my uncle, Count Ivan Ilyich, told me, and of which he assured me with honor. The late Chaplitsky, the one who died in poverty, squandering millions, once in his youth lost - I remember Zorich - about three hundred thousand. He was desperate. Grandmother, who has always been strict with the pranks of young people, somehow took pity on Chaplitsky. She gave him three cards, so that he put them one after the other, and took from him his word of honor to never play again. Chaplitsky came to his winner: they sat down to play. Chaplitsky put fifty thousand on the first card and won Sonic; turned down passwords, passwords-ne, - won back and remained a winner ...
But it's time to sleep: it's already a quarter to six.
In fact, it was already dawn: the young people finished their glasses and departed.
II
- II paraît que monsieur est décidément pour les suivantes.
- Que voulez-vous, inadame? Elles sont plus fraîches.
Secular talk
The old Countess *** was sitting in her dressing room in front of the mirror. Three girls surrounded her. One held a can of blush, the other a box of hairpins, and the third a tall cap with fiery ribbons. The Countess had not the slightest claim to beauty, long faded, but she retained all the habits of her youth, strictly followed the fashions of the seventies and dressed as long, as diligently as she had sixty years ago. A young lady, her pupil, was sitting at the window at the embroidery frame.
“Hello, grand'maman,” the young officer said as he entered. - Bon jour, mademoiselle Lise. Grand'maman, I'm asking you.
- What is it, Paul?
“Let me introduce you to one of my friends and bring him to you on Friday for the ball.
- Bring it to me straight to the ball, and then you will introduce it to me. Did you visit *** yesterday?
- How! it was a lot of fun; danced until five o'clock. How good Yeletskaya was!
- And, my dear! What's good about it? Was her grandmother, Princess Darya Petrovna like that? .. By the way: I’m tea, she has grown very old, Princess Darya Petrovna?
- How old? - answered Tomsky absentmindedly, - she died seven years ago.
The young lady raised her head and made a sign to the young man. He remembered that the death of her peers was concealed from the old countess, and bit his lip. But the Countess heard the message, new to her, with great indifference.
- She's dead! - she said, - and I did not know! Together we were granted maids of honor, and when we introduced ourselves, the empress ...
And the Countess told her grandson her anecdote for the hundredth time.
“Well, Paul,” she said afterwards, “now help me up. Lizanka, where is my snuffbox?
And the countess with her girls went behind the screens to finish her toilet. Tomsky stayed with the young lady.
- Whom do you want to represent? - Lizaveta Ivanovna asked quietly.
- Narumova. Do you know him?
- No! Is he a military man or a civil servant?
- Military.
- Engineer?
- No! cavalryman. Why did you think he was an engineer?
The young lady laughed and did not answer a word.
- Paul! - shouted the countess from behind the screens, - send me some new novel, but please, not from the current ones.
- How is it, grand'maman?
- That is, such a novel, where the hero would not crush either the father or the mother, and where there would be no drowned bodies. I am terribly afraid of the drowned!
- There are no such novels today. Do you want Russians?
- Are there any Russian novels? .. Come, father, please come!
- Excuse me, grand'maman: I'm in a hurry ... Excuse me, Lizaveta Ivanovna! Why did you think that Narumov was an engineer?
And Tomsky left the lavatory.
Lizaveta Ivanovna was left alone: \u200b\u200bshe left her work and began to look out the window. Soon, on one side of the street, a young officer appeared from behind a coal house. A blush covered her cheeks: she went back to work and bent her head over the canvas itself. At this moment the Countess entered, fully dressed.
- Order, Lizanka, - she said, - to lay the carriage, and we will go for a walk.
Lizanka got up from behind the embroidery frame and began to put away her work.
- What are you, my mother! deaf or something! Cried the Countess. - Tell us to lay the carriage as soon as possible.
- Now! - answered the young lady quietly and ran into the hall.
A servant entered and handed the Countess books from Prince Pavel Alexandrovich.
- Okay! Thanks, ”said the Countess. - Lizanka, Lizanka! where are you running?
- Dress up.
- You will have time, mother. Sit here. Open the first volume; read aloud ...
The young lady took the book and read a few lines.
- Louder! Said the Countess. - What's the matter with you, my mother? I was asleep with a voice, or what? .. Wait: move me a bench, closer ... well!
Lizaveta Ivanovna read two more pages. The Countess yawned.
“Drop this book,” she said, “what nonsense! Send it to Prince Pavel and tell him to thank him ... But what about the carriage?
“The carriage is ready,” said Lizaveta Ivanovna, glancing out into the street.
- Why aren't you dressed? - said the countess, - you must always wait for you! This, mother, is unbearable.
Lisa ran to her room. Less than two minutes later, the Countess began to call with all her urine. Three girls ran through one door, and the valet into the other.
- Why won't you get it? The countess told them. - Tell Lizaveta Ivanovna that I am expecting her.
Lizaveta Ivanovna entered wearing a bonnet and a hat.
- Finally, my mother! Said the Countess. - What outfits! Why is that? .. who is to seduce? .. And what is the weather? - it seems like the wind.
- No, sir, your Excellency! very quiet, sir! - answered the valet.
- You always speak at random! Open the window. So it is: the wind! and very cold! Put the carriage aside! Lizanka, we won't go: there was nothing to dress up.
"And this is my life!" Thought Lizaveta Ivanovna. Indeed, Lizaveta Ivanovna was an unhappy creature. The bitterness of someone else's bread, says Dante, and the steps of someone else's porch are heavy, but who knows the bitterness of dependence if not the poor pupil of a noble old woman? The Countess ***, of course, did not have an evil soul; but she was wayward, like a woman spoiled by the light, stingy and immersed in cold egoism, like all old people who fell in love in their time and were alien to the present. She took part in all the vanities of the great world, dragged herself to balls, where she sat in a corner, reddened and dressed in the old fashion, like an ugly and necessary decoration of a ballroom; visiting guests approached her with low bows, as if according to the established rite, and then no one did it anymore. She hosted the whole city, observing strict etiquette and not recognizing anyone by sight. Her numerous servants, having grown fat and gray in her hallway and in the girl's, did what they wanted, vying to rob the dying old woman. Lizaveta Ivanovna was a domestic martyr. She poured tea and was reprimanded for wasting sugar; she read novels aloud and was to blame for all the mistakes of the author; she accompanied the Countess on her walks and was in charge of the weather and the pavement. She was given a salary that was never paid; and meanwhile they demanded that she be dressed like everyone else, that is, like very few. She played the most pitiful role in the world. Everyone knew her, and no one noticed; at balls she danced only when vis-a-vis was lacking, and the ladies took her by the arm every time they had to go to the dressing room to fix something in their outfit. She was proud, vividly felt her position and looked around her - impatiently awaiting a deliverer; but the young people, calculating in their windy vanity, did not honor her, although Lizaveta Ivanovna was a hundred times prettier than the arrogant and cold brides around whom they clung to. How many times, leaving quietly a dull and luxuriant living room, she went away to cry in her poor room, where there were screens covered with wallpaper, a chest of drawers, a mirror and a painted bed, and where a tallow candle burned darkly in a brass chandal!
The Queen of Spades means secret ill will.
The newest fortune-telling book.
And on rainy days
They were going
Bent - God forgive them! -
From fifty
And won
And wrote off
So, on rainy days,
They were engaged
Once we played cards at the horse guard Narumov. The long winter night passed unnoticed; sat down to supper at five o'clock in the morning. Those who won ate with great appetite; others, absent-mindedly, sat in front of their instruments. But the champagne appeared, the conversation became more lively, and everyone took part in it.
- What have you done, Surin? The owner asked.
- Lost, as usual. - I must admit that I am unhappy: I play with Mirandole, I never get excited, nothing will confuse me, but I keep losing!
- And you have never been tempted? never put it on the root? .. Your firmness is amazing to me.
- And what is Hermann! - said one of the guests, pointing to the young engineer, - he never took cards in his hands, when he was born, he never bent a single password, but until five o'clock he sits with us and looks at our game!
- The game interests me greatly, - said Hermann, - but I am not able to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of acquiring the superfluous.
- Hermann is German: he is calculating, that's all! - remarked Tomsky. - And if someone is incomprehensible to me, it is my grandmother Countess Anna Fedotovna.
- How? what? The guests shouted.
- I cannot comprehend, - continued Tomsky, - how my grandmother does not understand!
- Why is it surprising, - said Narumov, - that the eighty-year old woman does not understand?
- So you don't know anything about her?
- No! really nothing!
- Oh, so listen:
You must know that my grandmother, sixty years ago, went to Paris and was in great fashion there. The people ran after her to see la Venus moscovite; Richelieu trailed after her, and grandmother assures that he almost shot himself from her cruelty.
At that time, the ladies were playing Pharaoh. Once at court, she lost a lot to the Duke of Orleans. Arriving home, grandmother, peeling off the flies from her face and untie the tansy, announced her loss to grandfather and ordered him to pay.
The late grandfather, as far as I remember, was the family of my grandmother's butler. He was afraid of her like fire; however, upon hearing of such a terrible loss, he lost his temper, brought the bills, proved to her that in six months they had spent half a million, that they had neither a Moscow region nor a Saratov village near Paris, and completely refused to pay. Grandmother gave him a slap in the face and went to bed alone, as a sign of her disfavor.
The next day she ordered her husband to be called, hoping that the domestic punishment had worked on him, but she found him unshakable. For the first time in her life, she went with him to reasoning and explanation; I thought to convince him, condescendingly proving that debt is a debt, and that there is a difference between a prince and a coachman. - Where! grandfather rebelled. No, and only! Grandma didn't know what to do.
A very remarkable person was briefly acquainted with her. You have heard of the Comte Saint-Germain, about whom so many wonderful things are told. You know that he posed as the Eternal Jew, the inventor of the life elixir and the philosopher's stone, and so on. They laughed at him as at a charlatan, and Casanova in her Notes says that he was a spy; however, Saint-Germain, in spite of his mystery, had a very respectable appearance and was a very amiable person in society. Grandmother still loves him without memory and is angry if they talk about him with disrespect. Grandma knew that Saint-Germain could have a lot of money. She decided to resort to him. I wrote him a note and asked him to come to her immediately.
The old eccentric appeared at once and found him in terrible grief. She described to him in the blackest colors her husband's barbarism and said at last that she was placing all her hope in his friendship and kindness.
Saint-Germain considered.
“I can serve you with this amount,” he said, “but I know that you will not be calm until you pay me off, and I would not want to introduce you to new troubles. There is another remedy: you can win back. " "But, my dear count," answered the grandmother, "I tell you that we have no money at all." “No money is needed here,” said Saint-Germain. “Please listen to me.” Then he revealed to her a secret, for which each of us would give dearly ...
Young players redoubled their attention. Tomsky lit his pipe, inhaled and continued.
That same evening, my grandmother came to Versailles, au jeu de la Reine. Duke of Orleans metal; the grandmother slightly apologized for not bringing her debt, weaved a little story as an excuse and began to poke at him against him. She chose three cards, put them one after another: all three won her sonic, and the grandmother won back completely.
- The case! - said one of the guests.
- Fairy tale! - said Hermann.
- Maybe powder cards? - picked up the third.
“I don’t think so,” Tomsky answered importantly.
- How! - said Narumov, - you have a grandmother who guesses three cards in a row, and you still haven't adopted her cabalism from her?
- Yes, damn it! - answered Tomsky, - she had four sons, including my father: all four are desperate gamblers, and she did not reveal her secret to any of them; though it would not be bad for them and even for me. But this is what my uncle, Count Ivan Ilyich, told me, and of which he assured me with honor. The late Chaplitsky, the one who died in poverty, squandering millions, once in his youth lost - I remember Zorich - about three hundred thousand. He was desperate. Grandmother, who has always been strict with the pranks of young people, somehow took pity on Chaplitsky. She gave him three cards, so that he put them one after the other, and took from him his word of honor to never play again. Chaplitsky came to his winner: they sat down to play. Chaplitsky put fifty thousand on the first card and won Sonic; bent passwords, passwords-ne, - got it back and still won ...
“But it's time to sleep: it's already a quarter to six.
In fact, it was already dawn: the young people finished their glasses and departed.
The Queen of Spades means secret ill will.
The newest fortune-telling book.
I
And on rainy days
They were going
Often;
Bent - God forgive them! -
From fifty
One hundred,
And won
And wrote off
Chalk.
So, on rainy days,
They were engaged
Business.
Once we played cards at the horse guard Narumov. The long winter night passed unnoticed; sat down to supper at five o'clock in the morning. Those who won, ate with great appetite, others, absent-mindedly, sat in front of their empty cutlery. But the champagne appeared, the conversation became more lively, and everyone took part in it. - What have you done, Surin? The owner asked. - Lost, as usual. I must admit that I am unhappy: I play with Mirandole, I never get excited, nothing will confuse me, but I still lose! - And you have never been tempted? never bet on rue? .. Your firmness is amazing to me. - And what is Hermann! - said one of the guests, pointing to the young engineer, - he never took cards in his hands, when he was born, he never bent a single password, but until five o'clock he sits with us and looks at our game! - The game interests me greatly, - said Hermann, - but I am not able to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of gaining the excess. - Hermann is German: he is calculating, that's all! - remarked Tomsky. - And if someone is incomprehensible to me, it is my grandmother Countess Anna Fedotovna. - How? what? The guests shouted. - I cannot comprehend, - continued Tomsky, - how my grandmother does not understand! - Why is it surprising, - said Narumov, - that the eighty-year old woman does not understand? - So you don't know anything about her? - No! really nothing! - Oh, so listen: You must know that my grandmother, sixty years ago, went to Paris and was in great fashion there. The people ran after her to see la Vénus moscovite; Richelieu trailed after her, and grandmother assures that he almost shot himself from her cruelty. At that time, the ladies were playing Pharaoh. Once at court, she lost a lot to the Duke of Orleans. Arriving home, grandmother, peeling off the flies from her face and untie the tansy, announced her loss to grandfather and ordered him to pay. The late grandfather, as far as I remember, was the family of the grandmother's butler. He was afraid of her like fire; however, hearing about such a terrible loss, he lost his temper, brought the bills, proved to her that in six months they had spent half a million, that they had neither a Moscow region nor a Saratov village near Paris, and completely refused to pay. Grandmother gave him a slap in the face and went to bed alone, as a sign of her disfavor. The next day she ordered her husband to be called, hoping that the domestic punishment had worked on him, but she found him unshakable. For the first time in her life, she went with him to reasoning and explanation; I thought to convince him, condescendingly proving that debt is a debt, and that there is a difference between a prince and a coachman. - Where! grandfather rebelled. No, and only! Grandma didn't know what to do. A very remarkable person was briefly acquainted with her. Have you heard about comte Saint-Germain , about which so many wonderful things are told. You know that he posed as an eternal Jew, the inventor of the life elixir and the philosopher's stone, and so on. They laughed at him like a charlatan, and Casanova in his Notes says that he was a spy; however, Saint-Germain, in spite of his mystery, had a very respectable appearance and was a very amiable person in society. Grandmother still loves him without memory and is angry if they speak of him with disrespect. Grandma knew that Saint-Germain could have a lot of money. She decided to resort to him. I wrote him a note and asked him to come to her immediately. The old eccentric appeared at once and found him in terrible grief. She described to him in the blackest colors her husband's barbarism and said at last that she was placing all her hope in his friendship and kindness. Saint-Germain considered. “I can serve you with this sum,” he said, “but I know that you will not be calm until you pay me off, and I would not want to introduce you to new troubles. There is another remedy: you can win back. " "But, my dear count," replied the grandmother, "I tell you that we have no money at all." “No money is needed here,” said Saint-Germain, “please listen to me.” Then he revealed to her a secret, for which each of us would give dearly ... Young players redoubled their attention. Tomsky lit his pipe, inhaled and continued. That same evening, my grandmother appeared at Versailles, au jeu de la Reine. Duke of Orleans metal; the grandmother slightly apologized for not bringing her debt, weaved a little story as an excuse and began to poke at him against him. She chose three cards, put them one after another: all three won her sonic, and the grandmother won back completely. - The case! - said one of the guests. - Fairy tale! - said Hermann. - Maybe powder cards? - picked up the third. “I don’t think so,” Tomsky answered importantly. - How! - said Narumov, - you have a grandmother who guesses three cards in a row, and you still haven't adopted her cabalism from her? - Yes, hell with two! - answered Tomsky, - she had four sons, including my father: all four are desperate gamblers, and she did not reveal her secret to any of them; though it would not be bad for them and even for me. But this is what my uncle, Count Ivan Ilyich, told me, and of which he assured me with honor. The late Chaplitsky, the one who died in poverty, squandering millions, once lost in his youth - I remember
The Queen of Spades means secret ill will.
The newest fortune-telling book.
I
And on rainy days
They were going
Often;
Bent - God forgive them! -
From fifty
One hundred,
And won
And wrote off
Chalk.
So, on rainy days,
They were engaged
Business.
Once we played cards at the horse guard Narumov. The long winter night passed unnoticed; sat down to supper at five o'clock in the morning. Those who won ate with great appetite; others, absent-mindedly, sat in front of their instruments. But the champagne appeared, the conversation became more lively, and everyone took part in it.
- What have you done, Surin? The owner asked.
- Lost, as usual. - I must admit that I am unhappy: I play with Mirandole, I never get excited, nothing will confuse me, but I keep losing!
- And you have never been tempted? never bet on rue? .. Your firmness is amazing to me.
- And what is Hermann! - said one of the guests, pointing to the young engineer, - he never took cards in his hands, when he was born, he never bent a single password, but until five o'clock he sits with us and looks at our game!
- The game interests me greatly, - said Hermann, - but I am not able to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of acquiring the superfluous.
- Hermann is German: he is calculating, that's all! - remarked Tomsky. - And if someone is incomprehensible to me, it is my grandmother Countess Anna Fedotovna.
- How? what? The guests shouted.
- I cannot comprehend, - continued Tomsky, - how my grandmother does not understand!
- Why is it surprising, - said Narumov, - that the eighty-year old woman does not understand?
- So you don't know anything about her?
- No! really nothing!
- Oh, so listen:
You must know that my grandmother, sixty years ago, went to Paris and was in great fashion there. The people ran after her to see la Venus moscovite; Richelieu trailed after her, and grandmother assures that he almost shot himself from her cruelty.
At that time, the ladies were playing Pharaoh. Once at court, she lost a lot to the Duke of Orleans. Arriving home, grandmother, peeling off the flies from her face and untie the tansy, announced her loss to grandfather and ordered him to pay.
The late grandfather, as far as I remember, was the family of my grandmother's butler. He was afraid of her like fire; however, upon hearing of such a terrible loss, he lost his temper, brought the bills, proved to her that in six months they had spent half a million, that they had neither a Moscow region nor a Saratov village near Paris, and completely refused to pay. Grandmother gave him a slap in the face and went to bed alone, as a sign of her disfavor.
The next day she ordered her husband to be called, hoping that the domestic punishment had worked on him, but she found him unshakable. For the first time in her life, she went with him to reasoning and explanation; I thought to convince him, condescendingly proving that debt is a debt, and that there is a difference between a prince and a coachman. - Where! grandfather rebelled. No, and only! Grandma didn't know what to do.
A very remarkable person was briefly acquainted with her. You have heard of the Comte Saint-Germain, about whom so many wonderful things are told. You know that he posed as the Eternal Jew, the inventor of the life elixir and the philosopher's stone, and so on. They laughed at him as at a charlatan, and Casanova in her Notes says that he was a spy; however, Saint-Germain, in spite of his mystery, had a very respectable appearance and was a very amiable person in society. Grandmother still loves him without memory and is angry if they talk about him with disrespect. Grandma knew that Saint-Germain could have a lot of money. She decided to resort to him. I wrote him a note and asked him to come to her immediately.
The old eccentric appeared at once and found him in terrible grief. She described to him in the blackest colors her husband's barbarism and said at last that she was placing all her hope in his friendship and kindness.
Saint-Germain considered.
“I can serve you with this amount,” he said, “but I know that you will not be calm until you pay me off, and I would not want to introduce you to new troubles. There is another remedy: you can win back. " "But, my dear count," answered the grandmother, "I tell you that we have no money at all." “No money is needed here,” said Saint-Germain. “Please listen to me.” Then he revealed to her a secret, for which each of us would give dearly ...
Young players redoubled their attention. Tomsky lit his pipe, inhaled and continued.
That same evening, my grandmother came to Versailles, au jeu de la Reine. Duke of Orleans metal; the grandmother slightly apologized for not bringing her debt, weaved a little story as an excuse and began to poke at him against him. She chose three cards, put them one after another: all three won her sonic, and the grandmother won back completely.
- The case! - said one of the guests.
- Fairy tale! - said Hermann.
- Maybe powder cards? - picked up the third.
“I don’t think so,” Tomsky answered importantly.
- How! - said Narumov, - you have a grandmother who guesses three cards in a row, and you still haven't adopted her cabalism from her?
- Yes, damn it! - answered Tomsky, - she had four sons, including my father: all four are desperate gamblers, and she did not reveal her secret to any of them; though it would not be bad for them and even for me. But this is what my uncle, Count Ivan Ilyich, told me, and of which he assured me with honor. The late Chaplitsky, the one who died in poverty, squandering millions, once in his youth lost - I remember Zorich - about three hundred thousand. He was desperate. Grandmother, who has always been strict with the pranks of young people, somehow took pity on Chaplitsky. She gave him three cards, so that he put them one after the other, and took from him his word of honor to never play again. Chaplitsky came to his winner: they sat down to play. Chaplitsky put fifty thousand on the first card and won Sonic; bent passwords, passwords-ne, - got it back and still won ...