_THE CONTINENTAL CLASSICS_ VOLUME XVIII MYSTERY TALES INCLUDING STORIES BY FEODOR MIKHAILOVITCH DOSTOYEVSKY JÖRGEN WILHELM BERGSÖE AND BERNHARD SEVERIN INGEMANN 1909 _TABLE OF CONTENTS_ RUSSIAN MYSTERY STORIES: ALEXANDER SERGEIEVITCH PUSHKIN - The Queen of Spades VERA JELIHOVSKY - The General's Will FEODOR MIKHAILOVITCH DOSTOYEVSKY - Crime and Punishment ANTON CHEKHOFF - The Safety Match VSEVOLOD VLADIMIROVITCH KRESTOVSKI - Knights of Industry JÖRGEN WILHELM BERGSÖE - The Amputated Arms OTTO LARSSEN - The Manuscript BERNHARD SEVERIN INGEMANN - The Sealed Room STEEN STEENSEN BLICHER - The Rector of Veilbye HUNGARIAN MYSTERY STORIES: FERENCZ MOLNAR - The Living Death MAURUS JOKAI - Thirteen at Table ÉTIENNE BÁRSONY - The Dancing Bear ARTHUR ELCK - The Tower Room _RUSSIAN MYSTERY STORIES_ ALEXANDER SERGEIEVITCH PUSHKIN _THE QUEEN OF SPADES_ I There was a card party at the rooms of Naroumoff, of the Horse Guards. The long winter night passed away imperceptibly, and it was five o'clock in the morning before the company sat down to supper. Those who had won ate with a good appetite; the others sat staring absently at their empty plates. When the champagne appeared, however, the conversation became more animated, and all took a part in it. "And how did you fare, Souirin?" asked the host. "Oh, I lost, as usual. I must confess that I am unlucky. I play mirandole, I always keep cool, I never allow anything to put me out, and yet I always lose!" "And you did not once allow yourself to be tempted to back the red? Your firmness astonishes me." "But what do you think of Hermann?" said one of the guests, pointing to a young engineer. "He has never had a card in his hand in his life, he has never in his life laid a wager; and yet he sits here till five o'clock in the morning watching our play." "Play interests me very much," said Hermann, "but I am not in the position to sacrifice the necessary in the hope of winning the superfluous." "Hermann is a German; he is economical--that is all!" observed Tomsky. "But if there is one person that I cannot understand, it is my grandmother, the Countess Anna Fedorovna!" "How so?" inquired the guests. "I cannot understand," continued Tomsky, "how it is that my grandmother does not punt." "Then you do not know the reason why?"