My Library

of his breach of etiquette resumed, saying: ‘By the exercise of the power I possess, and will impart to you, conditionally; you shall be capable of depriving any man of speech, and make man, woman or child perfectly subservient to your silent command, as the people yonder are to mine. There is Jean Boyard, in this Paris, who merely looks at any small object, and makes it dance toward him. You shall exceed him fifty-fold! On the Boulevart du Temple M. Hector produces a full-blown rose from a green bud, in seven minutes; you shall be able to do it in one. “ ‘In the Rue de Bruxelles lives a girl—Julie Vimart—who exceeds Alexis and all the other sleepers, for she beats you at chess, tells you all you know, and much that you have forgotten; you shall do all that and more. In the street Grand Père, lives a boy who brings messages from the living, in their sleep; meets and converses with your friends—when they slumber, and describes them as perfectly as the sun paint their portraits in the cameras of Talbot and Dagguerre; you shall have that power. “ ‘In the Rue du Jour, is a Sage Femme, who cures all diseases that are curable, by a simple touch and prayer: you shall have that power greater than she can ever hope to. It is only necessary to say ‘I will have these powers!’ and they shall be yours. They all are well worth having. I learned