The Chink in the Armour

A small, shiny, pink card lay on the round table in Sylvia Bailey's sitting-room at the Hôtelde l'Horloge in Paris. She had become quite accustomed to finding one or more cards-cards from dressmakers, cards from corset-makers, cards from hairdressers-lying on her sitting-room table, butthere had never been a card quite like this card. Although it was pink, it looked more like a visiting-card than a tradesman's advertisement, and she took it up with some curiosity. It was inscribed "Madame Cagliostra," andunderneath the name were written the words "Diseuse de la Bonne Aventure," and then, in acorner, in very small black letters, the address, "5, Rue Jolie, Montmartre."A fortune-teller's card? What an extraordinary thing!Like many pretty, prosperous, idle women, Sylvia was rather superstitious. Not long beforethis, her first visit to Paris, a London acquaintance had taken her to see a noted palmistnamed "Pharaoh," in Bond Street. She had paid her guinea willingly enough, but the resulthad vaguely disappointed her, and she had had the feeling, all the time she was with him, that the man was not really reading her hand.