Page:Vance--The trey o hearts.djvu/163

Rh "Deal—and may God judge between us!"

One by one Judith stripped the cards from the top of the deck, dealing first to Rose, then to herself. Twelve had been dealt when she held her hand an instant.

"I have a premonition about thirteen," she said, with a cruel smile for Rose.

But the card that fell to Rose was a Queen of Hearts. "Another superstition gone smash!" Judith commented, and dealt herself the Trey of Hearts.

Judith's hand moved steadily toward the glass.

"Judith! you cannot mean to drink it?"

With a strangled cry. Rose covered her face with her hands to shut out the sight, stood momentarily swaying, and dropped to the floor in a complete faint.

Judith carried the glass to her lips, but before she could tilt it, her glance darted through the window and saw that which caused her to stay her hand.

On the topmost tier of girders of the building opposite Alan Law stood amid a little knot of amused and animated labourers, one foot in the great steel hook of the hoisting tackle. As Judith stared, he waved a hand to some person invisible.

Immediately the arm began to lift, the tackle to move slowly through the blocks. Very gently he was swung up and outward. …. With a cry Judith flung the poison from her, leaped