The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen

food with his fork, leaving his knife propped at the edge of his plate — but Henrietta's stomach felt as tight as a drum and she had far fewer thoughts. The salon felt chilly after the dining-room. Leopold, as though lunch had never happened, went straight back to the cards. 'Did you say you could tell fortunes?'
    'I said my governess did.'
    'Can you remember how?'
    'Twenty-six cards in a ring ... The knaves used to be lovers.'
    'Then throw them out. It's the future I want to know.'
    'But I don't think — '
    'Try. Make up anything. If it's really the future it will come out somehow.'
    'Then why don't you try?'
    'No. I want to watch.'
    'Very well,' she said quickly, tossing her hair back. 'Shuffle and cut to me.'
    Having done this with alarming concentration, Leopold pushed the round table to one side and turned back the edge of the rug. He pressed the reshuffled pack between his palms. Henrietta, between misgiving and self-importance took the pack and, kneeling down on the parquet, dealt out in a circle round her twenty-six cards, face down. Leopold squatted outside the circle and they both breathed intently. She said:
    'You mustn't think.'
    A tide of pale sun reflected from outside swept over the parquet and caught the tips of her hair. Looking up to think, she saw the limbs of the plane glisten and wet yellow light sweep over the wall behind. Upstairs, Miss Fisher shut the other shutter: her mother would now be entirely in the dark. Inside courtyards and twisted alleys, the sound of Paris took on a clearer ring. The sun coming out made Henrietta more nervous, as though heaven opened a window to watch. Leopold's soles creaked as he squatted behind her.
    'Turn up any card,' she said.
    He did. 'Ten of spades.'
    'Oh, that's misfortune. A death.'
    'Why?'
    'Spades are used to dig graves.'
    'Perhaps that is Madame Fisher. What do you do with those other twenty-six cards?'
    'Oh, they come in later. Draw again. Show me. Oh, a woman is going to cross your path. Is your mother fair or dark?'
    'I don't know. What are diamonds?'
    'Money.'
    'Look here, are you sure you're getting this right?'
    'I don't see why I shouldn't be. Go on drawing. Oh dear, Leopold; really you are unlucky. Spades again. Ace, too: that's the worst.'
    Leopold, who had crawled around outside the circle and now knelt in front of her, threw down the card angrily: 'I don't think your governess knew,' he said. 'What are hearts — love?'
    'Yes — ' A bell tringed through the house; Henrietta looked up, surprised — this was the first indoor bell she'd heard today. One forgets that such things go on in Paris too. Mariette shot out of the kitchen, went to the hall door, murmured to someone, shut it. Leopold, oblivious, stared at the face-down cards, but Henrietta still listened: a woman cannot ignore what goes on in any house. She heard Mariette wait, then start heavily upstairs.
    'Look here, the king of hearts.'
    'Oh, you'll be lucky in love — What was that, do you think?'
    'Oh, something. Go on.'
    'What do you want to happen?'
    'Crossing the sea.'
    They heard Miss Fisher come to the top of the stairs, where Mariette and she interrupted each other's French. Henrietta could contain herself no longer; she sat back on her heels. 'Something must be happening,' she said. 'I think someone's brought a note.'
    'Well, we can't help that.'
    'I wish we hadn't done cards; I think it's made things happen — It's all very well to shrug, but suppose it's about you.'
    'Perhaps your grandmother's dead,' retorted Leopold sharply.
    'That would be a telegram.'
    'Well, perhaps it is a telegram. Oh, damn all these cards! You don't know how, you don't make anything come!' Leopold impatiently broke the circle, sweeping the cards into a porridge with both hands. The gilt ships slipped over each other, here and there a card bent, its edge caught on the parquet. 'Muddle — muddle — muddle,' he muttered, stirring them rudely. 'I thought you said you could do this. What can you do,