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Tracks of a Rolling Stone-Part19_Henry J.Coke(1827-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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and, for one, I am inclined to the belief that,

Mercy murders, pardoning those that kill.



CHAPTER XIX

WE were nearly six weeks in the Havana, being detained by



Lord Durham's illness. I provided myself with a capital

Spanish master, and made the most of him. This, as it turned



out, proved very useful to me in the course of my future

travels. About the middle of March we left for Charlestown



in the steamer ISABEL, and thence on to New York. On the

passage to Charlestown, we were amused one evening by the



tricks of a conjuror. I had seen the man and his wife

perform at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. She was called the



'Mysterious Lady.' The papers were full of speculations as

to the nature of the mystery. It was the town talk and



excitement of the season.

This was the trick. The lady sat in the corner of a large



room, facing the wall, with her eyes bandaged. The company

were seated as far as possible from her. Anyone was invited



to write a few words on a slip of paper, and hand it to the

man, who walked amongst the spectators. He would simply say



to the woman 'What has the gentleman (or lady) written upon

this paper?' Without hesitation she would reply correctly.



The man was always the medium. One person requested her,

through the man, to read the number on his watch, the figures



being, as they always are, very minute. The man repeated the

question: 'What is the number on this watch?' The woman,



without hesitation, gave it correctly. A friend at my side,

a young Guardsman, took a cameo ring from his finger, and



asked for a description of the figures in relief. There was

a pause. The woman was evidently perplexed. She confessed



at last that she was unable to answer. The spectators

murmured. My friend began to laugh. The conjuror's bread



was at stake, but he was equal to the occasion. He at once

explained to the company that the cameo represented 'Leeder



and the Swan in a hambigious position, which the lady didn't

profess to know nothing about.' This apology, needless to



say, completely re-established the lady's character.

Well, recognising my friend of the Egyptian Hall, I reminded



him of the incident. He remembered it perfectly; and we fell

to chatting about the wonderful success of the 'mystery,' and



about his and the lady's professionalcareer. He had begun

life when a boy as a street acrobat, had become a street



conjuror, had married the 'mysterious lady' out of the 'saw-

dust,' as he expressed it - meaning out of a travelling



circus. After that, 'things had gone 'ard' with them. They

had exhausted their resources in every sense. One night,



lying awake, and straining their brains to devise some means

of subsistence, his wife suddenly exclaimed, 'How would it be



if we were to try so and so?' explaining the trick just

described. His answer was: 'Oh! that's too silly. They'd



see through it directly.' This was all I could get out of

him: this, and the fact that the trick, first and last, had



made them fairly comfortable for the rest of their days.

Now mark what follows, for it is the gist and moral of my



little story about this conjuror, and about two other miracle

workers whom I have to speak of presently.



Once upon a time, I was discussing with an acquaintance the

not unfamiliar question of Immortality. I professed






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