7
THE COURIER.
"i.tj
been assured that the likeness was only
a coincidence, that it could be nothing
more; for the photograph it photograph
it wac had been in my possession for
more than twenty years, while this girl
could not possibly be over twenty years
old. But, in my surprise and agitation, I
did not consider this, and to me she wbb
the creature in flesh and blood of my
youthful dreams.
Tho fakir himself was an old man,
thin almost to emaciation, yet of power
ful frame. His hair was sparso and
gray; his sallow face was half-covered by
a straggling beard, and his eyes were
deep-sunken, but marvelously brilliant,
He wore the American evening dreeB;
but this conventionality of attire could
not hide the real personality of the man
a personality that struck me at once
as being sinister and repulsive.
He performed numerous feats of leger
demain and magic, to which, however, I
gave little heed, my attention being ab
sorbed by his fair assistant. Finally, he
announced, in his broken English, that
he would give an exhibition of hia power
in telepathy. "Mile. Vaisye," bb he
called her, should be put into a trance
or hypnotic sleep; if, then, a dozen or
more personB in the audience would each
write on a slip of paper a number, a
name, a date or a sentence, and band
the same to him, the young lady, con
trolled by his will, and without receiv
ing any other communication, would
move along the aiBles and reprodure for
each 0ii6 the identical number, name,
date or sentence that had been written.
The girl seated herself in a chair, and
be made several passes with his hands
before her face in the' approved manner
of Mesmer, with the result that her eyss
qtrfckly closed. He then went among
the audience with a hat, collecting the
slipB of paper from nearly a score of
persons in various parts of the theatre,
myself amoog the number, and reading
each slip as received.
Standing then i& front of the foot
lights, he made a commanding gesture
with bis arm, and the girl arose, still
with closed eyeB, and descended the
steps from the stage. Watching her
closely, I noted that her face was pale,'
but I could not tell it she were actually
in a trance. She moved aB one is sup
posed to walk in sleep, listlessly and
aimessly. As she advanced along the
aisle, she stopped suddenly, as if im
pelled by some unseen force, and, em
ploying a pencil and a small pad of
paper she carried, wrote something
which she handed to the person by
whom she stood.' Then she continued
her way, up one aisle and down another,
pausing and writing frequently, actuat
ed; apparently, only by an occasional
sweep of the armB ou the part of Naka
Narayana. When she came aud stood
by me my heart beat violently, and I
gazed up into her mobile face with an
intensity of excitement that could bard
ly have escaped the attention of those
around me. Without an instant's heBi
tation she wrote, handed me the sheet
of paper, and paB:ed on. What I read
was this, in a free, running hand: .
Kismet what mutt be, shall be.
They were the same words that I had
written on the paper taken by the ma
gician. Nevertheless, coming from her
to me, they seemed to have a new and
tremendous nigniHcance, and in the ex
travagance of my delusion I halt fancied
that enehad wittingly given them a
personal meaning and application.
The girl then returned to the stage,
and Naka Narayana, taking the slips
one by one from the hat, read them
aloud, and elicited from each contribu
tor to the performance an acknowledg
ment of the correctness of Mile. Vaisya'a
transcription. She was then awakened,
and the curtain fell, amid great ap
plause. The magic or trickery of the proceed
ing, which so myBtitied and amazed the
audience, was lost upon me in the con
temptation of tho mystery surrounding
log the girl herself, the mystery of her
idontity and her subjection to tho
odious fakir I had but one concern in
1 fenow, and that was, to mako the ac
quaintance of "Mile. Vaisya," whoso af
finity to myself I hid never doubted in
the worship of ber image, when sho was
only an imago, and whoso life, I felt,
was designed by fate to bo interlinked
hereafter with my own.
It noed hari'ly bo said that I wasted
no time in tho pursuit of my purpose.
As I was personally known to the mana
gor of the theatre, I experienced no
difficulty in obtaining, on Borne trivial
pretext, the private address of Naka
Narayana, which, investigation diEcloe
rd, was that of a cheap theatrical board
ing house not far from Washington
Square. I applied there for a room, and
secured one at the back of the house,
learning, at the same time, by adroit
questioning of the none too secretive
landlady, that the magician and bia as-'
sistant occupied separate rooms on the
top floor, that they took no meals in the
house, except, perhaps, of their own
preparing, and that the girl never went
out during the day, and tho man but
seldom.
During the next week my ingenuity
was taxed to the utmost to secure a
meeting with the girl. Long hours I
sat in my room, watching the hallway,
with the door ajar, but she never went
out except in the evening, in company
with the magician, who never himself
left the house save at this time. On
every occasion possible I brought myself
to her attention, until I congratulated
myself that she must be familiar with
my features and conscious of my in
terest. Finally, one morning. Naka Narayana
webt out alone; and I was about making
up my mind to resort to bold measures
to secure the coveted interview, when
one of the servants of the houso brought
me a note, in a handwriting that I
instantly recognized. It read thus:
"I need a friend. Oan I trust youY
"Vaisya."
My delight waB supreme, and I in
Btantly replied that I was hers to, com
mand, and that I would await her in the
back parlor below, where we could
speak undisturbed.
She came down almost immediately,
in a simply made dress of dark-red
India silk. As she entered the room -where
I stood, she hesitated, glanced
around uneasily, aud then, impulsively,
appealingly, came forward with extend
ed band.
"I have waited for this moment for
twenty years," I said, looking into her
eyes.
She gazed at mo in surprize.
"Then then you know my story V
she asked.
"I know nothing of you," I said,
"except that your image has been be
fore me all my life."
"It is strange I do not understand,"
she answered.
"Tell me bow I can serve you," I
went on. "You can confide in me,
utterly."
She eat near mo, with her eyes down
cast for a moment and the color slowly
riBiogin her cheeks.
'I do not know why I should have
appealed to you," she began, "unlets it
was because I read something in your
face that reassured me. I fancied a
week Ago that you were were interested
in me. '
"It was not merely fancied," I inter
jected. "From the moment I saw you
I devoted myself to making your ac
quaintance. You see I am frank, for I
wish you to be frank with me. Oppor
tunities such as this art- too hard to
obtain, to be wasted. Tell me every
thing, and whatever you would have
me do, shall be done."
"You are right opportunities are
few," she said. "I am watched nearly
all tho time, and when I am not watch
ed I am helpless. All my life I have
been in tho power of Naka Narayaua,
and rarely have I ever parsed a word
with any othor human being. I have
watted always to escape from this
slavery, but if ever a chance presented
itself, my will was not my own, and I
could not take advantage of it. My
story is a strange one, but I can tell it
to you in a few words. I was born in
India. Who my parents were I do not
know, but I think my father was an
Englishman and my mother a native
I have no other name than Vairya that
I have ever heard. When a child I fell
into thohandB of Naka Narayana, who
was even then an old man, and famed
for supernatural powers. From the
first he exercised the most absolute
control-over my mind. He taught me
to read and write in several Inoguages,
but allowed me no freedom, and com
pelled me to undergo his own rigid
regimen of existence. When I was
about fifteen he informed mo that it was
in his power to keep me young for a
very long time. Age, he said, .name
from the wasting away of the physical
powers of the human body by constant
use; this waste was inevitable in con
scious moments, and for every day of
consciousness a night's sleep was re
quired to restore the Inst energies; from
this he argued, tha; without conscious
ness, and hence, without this vital
waBte, eave only at necessary interval,
the individual would grow old almost
imperceptibly, and live indefinitely. It
was his purpose, he declared, to thus
preserve my youth. "Hereafter," he
said, "except for a few hours at a time,
your physical functions will be kept en
tirely in abeyance, and your beauty will
thus be long in fading. I have experi
mented on myoelf, and I have already
prolonged my life beyond the age of
most men. By this means I shall defy
death for perhaps another generation.'
"All that he said I do not remember.
I was in despair when I realized that
my slavery was to be' even more abject
and complete than it had been before,
and my soul revolt id at the plan he
contemplated, But 1 was too thorough
ly in bis power to in ke any resistance,
and from that' day to this I have been
most of the time 'i a state of torpor or
trance. How many ) ears have gone by
1 do not know. Twice we have orossed
the seas, and given exhibitions on the
stage such as we are giving now. Even
during the two or three hours each even
ing when I am awake, I am still undter
hia spell and the slave of his will. At
no time, not even now, when he baa left
me awake for the first time in months
in order that I might repair a stage
costume that was torn last night, ami
free, physically, from bia influence. I
have always wanted to escape from him;
but I feel that 1 cannot escape alone I
have not the strength; I should not
know how to elude him it I were away.
At times I think I am going mad; and I
have appealed to you, as the only one
in whose face I have ever read sympathy,
to save and protect me."
''And I will do so," I answered
earnestly, "Listen, Vaisya; though 1
never saw you until, by chance, a week
ago, I have kaawn and loved you always.
Years ago a picture came into my
possession the picture of a girl to
me the most beautiful girl in all the
world, and that girl hfjs) filled my dreams
by day and night aver since. It waa
you picture I know this now and it is
the happiness of my Ufa that I may be
the instrtment in the ba'nda of fatatdr
rescue you from your abominable slavery.'
Let us loae no time; go at once to'yobr'
room and secure suck of your belongings'"
as you whh to take with you, and we
will escape before Naka Narayana re
turns," and I seized her hand and
precsod it to my lips. ' - 1( i
She made no reply for a moment, but
atood trembling, as if a struggle wero
going oh within hor. Then she said,
with a radiant face:
"You give mo strength, I trust you .
It shall bo as you say."
She quitted the room and went up the
stair, loaving me thrlllod and intoxicat
ed by her beauty and the prospect of
joy that was before me. While I wait
ed her return I paced the floor in a fever
of impatience, pondering over the mar
velous etory of her life that she had told
me, and 'wondering at the sorcery of
Naka Narayana. "It is fate fate," I
was saying to myself; "fate has kept her
for me all theso years," when I heard
the front door of tho house open and
shut, and footsteps in the hall.
Looking out cautiously I beheld tho
magician.
lie was holding his hand against his
breast and walked unsteadily. In the
glimpse that I caught of his face I saw
that which startled and shocked me.
His sallowness had changed to pallor,
his deep-sunken eyes were staring wildly
and his age seemed to have doubled
since last I looked upon him.
Evidently he had been suddenly
stricken while on tho street, and, rep
rehensible as the feeling may have been,
yet something of exultation aucceeded
my astonishment and chagrin at bis
appearance. "Should he die," flashed
through my mind, "theone great daqger
the one great obstacle in my road to
happiness will be removed." '
I approached the door leading to the
hallway and looked after him. Ha
clutched the railing of the stairs and
tottered as he slowly made hia way up'
ward, Once or twice I thought he
would fall backward. Winn he reached
the top of the first flight he paused an'd
rested for a moment before pursuing
his way. Presently I could hear bim
stumbling up the second flight.
Curiosity impelled me to follow him,
and when he had reached the top floor.
I was on the floor below, where I
stopped and listened. I could hear him
breathing heavily as he entered the
room that I knew to bo Vaisya'a. The
door closed behind bim, and for a
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7-t
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