Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Project Manager; Keith M. Eckrich,
Post-Proofer; the Online Distributed Proofreaders Team
1909
ALEXANDER SERGEIEVITCH PUSHKIN - The Queen of Spades
VERA JELIHOVSKY - The General's Will
FEODOR MIKHAILOVITCH DOSTOYEVSKY - Crime and Punishment
ANTON CHEKHOFF - The Safety Match
VSEVOLOD VLADIMIROVITCH KRESTOVSKI - Knights of Industry
JÖRGEN WILHELM BERGSÖE - The Amputated Arms
OTTO LARSSEN - The Manuscript
BERNHARD SEVERIN INGEMANN - The Sealed Room
STEEN STEENSEN BLICHER - The Rector of Veilbye
FERENCZ MOLNAR - The Living Death
MAURUS JOKAI - Thirteen at Table
ÉTIENNE BÁRSONY - The Dancing Bear
ARTHUR ELCK - The Tower Room
There was a card party at the rooms of Naroumoff, of the HorseGuards. The long winter night passed away imperceptibly, and itwas five o'clock in the morning before the company sat down tosupper. Those who had won ate with a good appetite; the otherssat staring absently at their empty plates. When the champagneappeared, however, the conversation became more animated, and alltook a part in it.
"And how did you fare, Souirin?" asked the host.
"Oh, I lost, as usual. I must confess that I am unlucky. I playmirandole, I always keep cool, I never allow anything to put meout, and yet I always lose!"
"And you did not once allow yourself to be tempted to back thered? Your firmness astonishes me."
"But what do you think of Hermann?" said one of the guests,pointing to a young engineer. "He has never had a card in hishand in his life, he has never in his life laid a wager; and yethe sits here till five o'clock in the morning watching our play."
"Play interests me very much," said Hermann, "but I am not in theposition to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of winning thesuperfluous."
"Hermann is a German; he is economical—that is all!" observedTomsky. "But if there is one person that I cannot understand, itis my grandmother, the Countess Anna Fedorovna!"
"How so?" inquired the guests.
"I cannot understand," continued Tomsky, "how it is that mygrandmother does not punt."
"Then you do not know the reason why?"
"No, really; I haven't the faintest idea. But let me tell you thestory. You must know that about sixty years ago my grandmother went toParis, where she created quite a sensation. People used to run afterher to catch a glimpse of the 'Muscovite Venus.'