title: The Queen of Spades: A Fable
author:  Peter Alexei 
description: Peter Alexei has worked as a theatre artist for over thirty years, designing hundreds of productions at theatres across the country. He is the author of THE MASKED AVENGER, the first of his San Francisco fables, with THE ROBBER BARONS in development. A graduate of Stanford University and the Yale School of Drama, and a longtime resident of San Francisco, he now lives in Southern California with his wife, two children and a crazy cat.
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  # The Queen Of Spades
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Alexander Sergeievitch Poushkin
  
  
  This page formatted 2007 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
      
  
  Produced by David Widger
  
  
  
  
  
  THE QUEEN OF SPADES
  
  
  By Alexander Sergeievitch Poushkin
  
  
  Translated by H. Twitchell
  
  
  Copyright, 1901, by The Current Literature Publishing Company
  
  
  AT the house of Naroumov, a cavalry officer, the long winter night
  
  
  had been passed in gambling. At five in the morning breakfast was
  
  
  served to the weary players. The winners ate with relish; the losers,
  
  
  on the contrary, pushed back their plates and sat brooding gloomily.
  
  
  Under the influence of the good wine, however, the conversation then
  
  
  became general.
  
  
  “Well, Sourine?” said the host inquiringly.
  
  
  “Oh, I lost as usual. My luck is abominable. No matter how cool I
  
  
  keep, I never win.”
  
  
  “How is it, Herman, that you never touch a card?” remarked one of
  
  
  the men, addressing a young officer of the E