Explore "Queen of Hearts" by Fred M. White on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Amidst a silence which could literally be felt, Inspector Docker handed to Lyttleton an object wrapped in tissue paper. The latter tore the covering off and, without comment, handed up the thin ivory card to the bench. For some few minutes, the three judges bent their heads over the card and examined it carefully. Then one of them asked for a strong magnifying glass, and, with this, made a still closer inspection. The president turned towards the court.
"This appears to my learned brethren and myself," he said, "to be a very remarkable piece of work. It is a Queen of Hearts and obviously belongs to an ivory pack of cards of rare workmanship and beauty. But that I need not go into. I understand, Mr. Lyttleton, that you claim this card as the one missing from the late Sir Walter Vanguard's collection."