JACK OF DIAMONDS.—You have too many strings to your bow and too many irons in the fire.
KING OF SPADES.—You are beloved by someone you least suspect.
QUEEN OF SPADES.—Your affairs will straighten out shortly and then you will understand.
JACK OF SPADES.—Your rival seems to be gaining successes, but wait. In a short space, they will collapse like a pack of cards.
THE WISH CARD
The nine of hearts has long been regarded as the wish card; that is to say, if a player wins this card, in any agreed manner, he or she will have a wish fulfilled.
The most usual way to decide who is to be the lucky individual is for the players to sit around the table and for each to write down a wish on a slip of paper, and then to initial it. That done, the papers are collected and set aside to await the decision of the cards.
The cards are dealt to the players in turn in the ordinary manner from a full pack. Just how many each person is to receive depends on the number of players, but all must have the same number, and each should be given as many as the pack allows. Thus, there will often be a few cards left over. These are set in the middle of the table and not used.
When play starts, somebody begins by turning over the first card on his or her pack. If this is a numeral card, the next person follows by turning over the first card on his or her pack, and so the play continues round the table. But, if someone turns over a jack, the next person must pay that person one card, i.e., the card coming first on his pack. If a queen is turned over, the payment is the next two cards; if it is a king, the next three cards, while an ace requires the payment of the four next cards. The person playing the jack, queen, king or ace takes not only the cards paid but any that may be lying face upwards in front of the person paying. All paid cards are placed at the bottom of the receiver's pack.