Read The Greater Trumps for Free Online

the explanations; and if he leaves it all to the Museum he will be bothered by losing it.”
    â€œBut how will he lose it, if he keeps it while he’s alive?” the old man asked.
    â€œI think he’s already unhappy, even while he’s alive, at the idea of losing at his death so much that he could never enjoy,” Henry said. “He is forever waiting for satisfaction.”
    Aaron Lee leaned forward. “But it’s necessary that he should sell it or give it—or lose it somehow,” he said anxiously.
    â€œIt would be very difficult for him to lose it,” the other answered. “And how do you know what virtue might pass from the cards?”
    â€œOnly violence … that’s unwise,” Aaron answered. “But to take them … to take them for this purpose … I don’t see the wrong.”
    â€œMr. Lothair Coningsby would see the wrong,” Henry said drily. “And I doubt if I could persuade Nancy.”
    â€œWhat’s she to do with it?” his grandfather asked contemptuously.
    Henry smiled again, a bright but almost threatening flash of amusement. “I wonder,” he said. “But, whatever I wonder, be certain, grandfather, that I’m determined not to go against her till …”
    He stopped for so long that Aaron said, “Till—till when?”
    â€œTill I’ve seen whether the image of the Lovers has another use,” Henry finished. “To know—to see from within—to be aware of the dance. Well, we shall see.” His eyes fixed on the inner door, he added slowly, “Nancy—Nancy—Nancy.”
    Aaron said, “But you must do something soon. We can’t run any risk. An accident—”
    â€œOr a spasm of gloom,” Henry added, “and the cards would be in the Museum. Yes, you’re right; we can’t wait. By the way, do you ever see anything of Joanna?”
    â€œI haven’t seen her for months,” the old man answered, with a slight shudder. “She came here in the summer—I told you.”
    â€œI know you did,” Henry said. “Is she still as mad as ever? Is she still crying out on the names of the old dead gods?”
    The other moved uneasily. “Don’t let’s talk of it. I am afraid of Joanna.”
    â€œAfraid of her?” Henry said scornfully. “Why, what can she do to harm us?”
    â€œJoanna’s mad, with a terrifying madness,” Aaron said. “If she knows that the Tarots might be brought back to their originals and the working of the mystery be complete——”
    â€œWhat could an old woman and an idiot boy do?” Henry asked.
    â€œCall them an insane prophetess and a young obedient Samson,” Aaron answered. “I dream of her sometimes as if she belonged to them . If she thought the body of her child was found and formed and vivified … and if she knew of the cards, she might … A mad hierophant … a hieratic hate …”
    â€œMightn’t she be appeased if she thought her child was found?” Henry asked.
    â€œIf she thought that we kept it from her?” the old man said. “Ask your own blood, Henry, what your desire would do. Your spirit is more like hers than mine. When she and I were young together, I set myself to discover the prophetic meaning of the dance, but she imagined herself a partner in it and she studied the old tales and myths of Egypt. Thirty years she studied them, and her child was to be a Mighty One born within the measure. It was born, and the same day it died.”
    Henry interrupted him sharply. “You’ve never told me this,” he said. “Did Joanna mean knowingly to create life within the dance? Why did the child die? Who was the father?”
    â€œBecause its heart was too great, perhaps, or its body too feeble; how should I know?” his grandfather answered. “She married a man who was reckoned