The Mysterious Card

The Mysterious Card #1

by Cleveland Moffett

(This has been called one of the two most famous riddle stories of all time, along with "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton.)
Burwell, a New Yorker in Paris, during intermission at the Folies Bergère, is inconspicuously given a card by a charming, elegant lady passing by his table with a gentleman. The card bore some French words written in purple ink. Not knowing that language, he was unable to make out the meaning. He returned at once to his hotel to inquire concerning the message on the card, where he asked the hotel manager to translate the roughly 20 words. As he read, the manager's face grew rigid with astonishment. He exclaimed:
"Where did you get this, monsieur?"
Burwell started to explain, but was interrupted by: "That will do, that will do. You must leave the hotel."
"What do you mean?" asked Burwell, in amazement.
"You must leave the hotel, now--tonight--without fail!" commanded the manager, excitedly.
At the next hotel, Burwell received the same reaction. Relentlessly pursuing the solution to the mystery of the card, he suffers a succession of unfortunate experiences. The story ends without a clear resolution, leaving the readers to ponder the mystery.
The author revealed the solution to this puzzle in the sequel, "The Mysterious Card Unveiled," which he didn't publish until the next year, to keep his readers in suspense

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Mystery Thriller

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1895

Reviews

[Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, Mr. Richard Burwell, a New York wealthy man, arrives in Paris for buisiness, waiting for his wife and daughter to join him later four a tour.
One evening, he meets a young lady in the Folies Bergère, a concert garden, she gives him a white card baring some French words written in purple ink, nothing strange so far, when Mr. Burwell returns to his hotel, and being completely ignorant of the language, he asks the manager to translate, the latter asks him to leave immediatly the hotel, and so he did, the same thing happened again with the second hotel manager, Mrs. Burwell and Mr. Jack Evelyth, Burwell's best friend..
What's on that card that is causing so much trouble? and what's really going on in here? Will find out in this story's sequel..

[Quirkyreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a conundrum story.

[Nazmus Sadat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting plot. However, the intriguing story turned into an unbelievable/unrealistic one by the end. Although the author tried to give an explanation in the second part of the book (the sequel), it became apparent that there was no way to explain the illogical plot of the first part.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I consumed this story as part of a collection of American short stories on Audible, the preceding tale of which was 'From Beyond' by H.P. Lovecraft. While listening to that story I had some conversations with myself about Lovecraftian style and concepts. Some people, including friends of mine, consider his work cheap, because he leaves so much up to the reader's imagination that it can seem as if he is not putting forth a satisfactory amount of effort in his narration. Where some prefer details and description, Lovecraft's trademark challenge to the reader to defy their own imagination can border on hack. I think I like it for what it is, particularly in the context of the time in which it was written. That is more than I can say about the story which followed it, 'The Mysterious Card' by Cleveland Moffett.

I understand this is an apples-to-oranges comparison, only begged by the juxtaposition of these two pieces as arranged by whomever was in charge of editing this collection. But I can't help but make it because 'The Mysterious Card' was so much longer and felt so much less interesting. Perhaps it would have helped if I had understood the time in which it was written, around forty years prior to 'From Beyond'. I understand this story deserves all the same conceptual handicaps as Lovecraft or anyone else writing before the modern deluge of popular media made everything seem to be a recognizable trope.

And yet, I can't get away from the fact that to a certain extent I predicted the ending to this story, and that in a way it was less compelling than I imagined, and that it took so long, and with so much repetition to get me there.

*SPOILERS FOLLOW*

Of course the card would reveal that indeed the protagonist was suffering for his own crimes. Of course something written near the end of the 19th century would revel in exotic Eastern mysticism to explain its twist. But even providing for both these likelihoods, it still managed to feel too contrived to really enjoy. If the same story were written today, the same result, being seen a mile away by viewers of equal perceptiveness, would amount to nothing more than "he had a split personality, or something." As the story is written, the demon possession angle only seems to serve to drag out a story which had already been going on a little too long.

It's not terrible. I'm sure in its day it was quite alluring to the imaginations of the folks who read it. But in the modern era, it is entirely skippable.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a matter of a few weeks of receiving the fatal mysterious card written in French he had lost all that he valued in the world his wife, friends, and business. And on top of this no one would translate it for him. This is Part I of a two-part mystery. The follow up story is called The Mysterious Card Unveiled which I sincerely hope reveals the incredulous meaning of the inscription that has turned everyone against him. Part I has definitely set up a suspenseful mystery.

[Louise d'Abadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short story. The mystery is intriguing and keeps you wondering what was on the card the whole time.

[Angie Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 1st half certinally made me very curious to know what could possibly be on that card. The 2nd half got a little too demonic for my taste.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. You can't set up a mystery like that and not solve it! If the next story doesn't explain what was on that card, I'm gonna throw a fit.

[Lorena Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me causó un poco de gracia que no pudiera leer en francés; más que nada porque ahora eso ya sería muy sencillo con cualquier traductor...pero me llegó que quedara inconcluso y sin explicación.

[Barbara Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome story enjoyed this one.

[RuWithTheBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun little story. A character stumbles upon a life changing mystery. An old adage follows - curiousity killed the cat.

[Estott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two short stories. "The Mysterious card" sets up a situation- a man has a card in an unreadable language- but everyone he shows it to suddenly wants nothing more to do with him. A neat bit of tension building with a cliff handing conclusion.

Unfortunately, the sequel offers a solution so couched in pseudo-mystic babble that it destroys all the entertainment value of the original tale.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst visiting France an American receives a strange card from some woman that passes close-by, he doesn't understand the french language and everytime he seeks assistance in translating it he is shunned...

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

I enjoyed the characters, and their world and hope I get the chance to read the story again and/or to read more within the series.

[Bharath · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is bit childish, but it showed the writing style of early 19th century. There is no proper conclusion at the end, and I thought the author is in a dilemma of how to end it. I am at the moment reading the sequel, and may elaborate this review.

[Fernanda]

se ve interesante

[Rahul Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery, that's it...
I've seen some films on this subject, but the book was great..

[Tylise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit more creepy than mysterious!