ВР in Cyrillic, hence Poirot's perusal of the book on Russian grammar. "The King of Clubs" The Oglander family was playing bridge in the drawing room of their house in Streatham last night when the French windows burst open and a woman staggered in, blood on her dress. She managed to say, "Murder!" and then collapsed. The family fetched both a doctor and the police who called at the next-door villa to find the body of Henry Reedburn, the theatrical impresario, dead in the library with his skull split open by some unknown weapon. The woman is identified as the famous dancer, Valerie Saintclair. Poirot receives a visit from Prince Paul of Maurania, who wants to marry the dancer. Reedburn was in love with Valerie although his feelings were not reciprocated. Prince Paul and Valerie saw a clairvoyant the previous week who turned over the king of clubs in her pack of cards and said a man threatened danger to her. The prince is afraid that Valerie interpreted this to mean Reedburn, and attacked him. Poirot and Hastings visit the scene of the crime. The library runs the length of one side of the house. At either end are curtained recesses with French windows, one to the garden and the other to the drive. It was in the recess facing the garden that Reedburn was found. The dead man had a female visitor that night that he let into the house himself, but the servants did not see her. Poirot sees a marble seat in the recess, whose arm-ends are carved in the form of lions' heads. He wonders if they could have caused the wound to Reedburn's head. The doctor says that there is no blood on the marble. They proceed to the Oglander home, along the garden path. In the drawing room, the table with the cards for the interrupted bridge game is still in place. Miss Saintclair is still in the house, ill in bed. She tells them that Reedburn held a secret of hers and threatened her but she did not kill him. She went to his house by prior appointment and was pleading with him when a man dressed like a tramp attacked him from behind the curtained recess. She fled from the house towards the lights of the Oglander house. Returning to the drawing room Poirot notices that the king of clubs is missing