Tsehhov daam koeraga Chekov Lady and the Lapdog
This visitor tells him that he may win by playing the three, seven and
ace, in that order, at the rate of one card a day, and thereafter never again in his life; he will earn her
forgiveness if he marries Lizaveta Ivanovna. Three, seven and ace, we are told in the climactic Chapter VI,
become an idée fixe in Hermann's mind, crowding out the image of the dead Countess (with never a thought
given to marriage). He thinks of gaming in Paris, but is brought by Narumov to the gambling salon of
Chekalinsky, newly arrived from Moscow. There Hermann wins on the first night with a three and on the
second night with a seven; but on the third, as he believes he holds the winning ace, his card turns out instead
to be the queen of spades, whose image on the card appears to wink at him uncannily resembling ..."the old
woman!". A short "Conclusion" reports that Hermann has gone out of his mind, Lizaveta Ivanovna has
annaabi.ee 
