Should the young lady be a blonde who consults the oracle upon questions of marriage, she should pick out the jack of hearts and the queen of hearts, and taking these two cards from out of the pack, place them aside; then, let her shuffle the cards well and again pick out eleven, which are in like manner set aside. Then take up the jack and queen of hearts and replace them among the remaining cards in the pack, shuffle them again, place them in succession in a line from right to left. It is necessary so that the marriage be an accomplished fact, that a quint, or five cards in hearts, appear in the lay-out, and, if it be found at the end of the deal at your left, the marriage will be a certainty; but, should the nine of diamonds or the seven of spades be placed in front, the marriage will be most certainly delayed; should the nine of diamonds alone appear, the delay will be not over serious; but should, in place of these cards, there be found the king of spades inverted, or three tens, the marriage will never come off. If the lady be a brunette she will take the jack of clubs, and, if very dark, the jack of spades as her representative husband, and represent herself by a queen of corresponding color, always taking care that the card ordinarily used as the Consultant be retired from the pack. Should a widow desire to contract a second marriage, she represents herself as the queen of clubs and her future husband as the king of clubs, which cards should be retired and placed aside. Then the pack is shuffled well and dealt upon the table, face downward, in five rows; take these up again in a reversed manner, shuffle them well and cause the consultant to cut, and to select eleven from the pack, which are to be put aside. Then retake the king and queen of clubs, and place them among the remainder of the pack, whence the eleven have been withdrawn; shuffle well and again let them be cut, and then deal, placing the first one dealt upon the table directly in front of you in an isolated position--this is the surprise. Deal the others and place them in a single line below the surprise card on the table, ranging from right to left, one by one. Turn over all the cards except the surprise, which is only to be consulted after the rest. Read the cards thus placed likewise from right to left, and study their significations well. It is necessary, in order that the widow's desire for a second marriage be successful, that the queen of spades come out inverted, that the king of the same color likewise appear, and that the jack of spades be at the side of the ace of spades or of hearts, and under this combination her second marriage is an assured fact. Should the ace of spades emerge near the jack, it will also be necessary that the ace of hearts come out to effect an alliance; but, if the consultant have three tens before her, the marriage will not occur; and, should the nine of spades come out, it denotes absolute failure.