Magda shuffled a pack of cards and dealt them out face upwards in the shape of a circle, setting the Queen of Hearts in the centre.
Leolia Payne, coming into the room, watched her in silence for a moment.
Then she said,
“The Nine of Spades looks ominous, doesn’t it?”
Magda rearranged the cards in pairs, paused as she came to an ace and answered testily.
“The Diamonds are good.”
Leolia Payne crossed over to the fireplace, moved two of the cats off the armchair and sat down. She was used to Magda’s habit of telling her fortune by cards whenever something serious was afoot.
She wondered now what it was, but she did not ask. She knew that sooner or later Magda would be unable to keep her anxiety to herself and that full details of what was troubling her would be recounted to her sympath
