Then Madame took the cards and arranged them around the matching card in the order shown in the diagram. The layout completed, she looked at the various cards and gathered information from their positions.
It would be impossible for any ordinary person to derive as much information from them as she did, but we can follow the chief lines of her thoughts.
This is how she reasoned:
My client assumes the central position, and around her are positions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Now what cards fill these stations? If there is an abundance of hearts, then friends surround her; if there is an abundance of spades, then enemies encompass her. If there are clubs or diamonds, then just ordinary people are flocking to her side.
It will be seen that Madame gave little consideration to the clubs or diamonds, though she naturally preferred the former, and made her calculations largely on the positions of the hearts and spades. Broadly speaking, the nearer the hearts pressed around the matching card, the better were the fortunes of her client, the farther away were the hearts, the worse were the client's fortunes.
Then, she considered an ace to have a stronger force than a two, and a two a stronger force than a three, and the six weakest of all. Thus an ace of hearts could more than neutralize the evil influences of a six of spades; but an ace of spades would be more than a match for the six of hearts.
We advise you to follow Madame Lenormand's method and see how the cards dispose themselves in your favor.
PATIENCE LUCK
Many people who play games of patience a good deal are convinced that, if they are able to bring three different forms of patience to a successful conclusion on the same day, they only have to wish for something and the wish will be granted to them.
The particular games they play are known as "Tens," "Demon" and "the Idiot's Delight."