game, Malone realized, from the other
players--or possibly from someone at the hospital itself, years ago.

He wished she'd picked up something less dangerous instead, like a
love of big-game hunting, or stunt-flying.

But no. It had to be poker.

The Queen threw away her seven of spades, showing more sense than
Malone had given her credit for at any time during the game. She let
the other card fall and didn't look at it.

She smiled up at Malone and Boyd. "Live dangerously," she said gaily.

Malone gave her a hollow laugh.

The last man drew one card, too, and the betting began.

The Queen's remaining thousand was gone before an eye could notice it.
She turned to Boyd.

"Sir Thomas," she said. "Another five thousand, please. At once."

Boyd said nothing at all, but marched off. Malone noticed, however,
that his step was neither as springy nor as confident as it had been
before. For himself, Malone was sure that he could not walk at all.

Maybe, he thought hopefully, the floor would open up and swallow them
all. He tried to imagine explaining the loss of $20,000 to Burris and
some congressmen, and after that he watched the floor narrowly, hoping
for the smallest hint of a crack in the palazzo marble.

"May I raise the whole five thousand?" the Queen said.

"It's okay with me," the dealer said. "How about the rest of you?"

The four grunts he got expressed a suppressed eagerness. The Queen
took the new chips Boyd had brought her and shoved them into the
center of the table with a fine, careless gesture of her hand. She
smiled gaily at everybody. "Seeing me?" she said.

Everybody was.

"Well, you see, it was this way," Malone muttered to himself,
rehearsing. He half-thought that one of the others would raise again,
but no one did. After all, each of them must be convinced that he held
a great hand, and though raising had gone on throughout the hand, each
must now be afraid of going the least little bit too far and scaring
the others out.

"Mr. Congressman," Malone muttered. "There's this game called poker.
You play it with cards and money. Chiefly money."

That wasn't any good.

"You've been called," the dealer said to the first man, who'd opened
the hand a year or so before.

"Why, sure," the player said, and laid down a pair of aces, a pair of
threes--and a four. One of the threes, and the four, were clubs. That
reduced the already improbable chances of the Queen's coming up with a
flush.

"Sor