A CLAIRVOYANT'S PROPHECY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 276, 2 July 1889, Page 3

A CLAIRVOYANT'S PROPHECY.

He looked at Mdme. Zelda Kuyhl steadily; what an absurd name it was, by the way! It struck him that she must be clever to have invented one so characteristic; he had become mysteriously convinced of her cleverness, in any case, from the first moment, and by degrees a light yet strong change passed over her features. Her eyes, which continued fastened to an invisible point in space, grew more rigid in their regard. Malvern noticed that, although she had struck him as pale at the beginning, Bhe was dow far paler than before, In a minute she began to speak, in a voice that, loir in the first phrases and a little vague, gathered volume and force as she went on : — "I see a picture of a very happy and yet somewhat unusual boyhood away back. I see you with a very pretty, delicate, sensitive, blonde woman — your mother, probably. She gave the boy with her a great deal of latitude—too much, perhaps. Not that he abused it She may have had ambitions. She gave them to you. in any case ". Here followed a few details. " There have been characteristic happenings in your lifo. "^ You have a combination of weakness and strength in your nature of which you arc perfectly conscious yourself. Bat what you have in your mind at present — at this moment — is. altogether weak.; There is no leaven of strength about that. You came here with a definite purpose imp' anted in your thought. That is, it was to be a definite purpose unlesß I should throw some light on the future which would give you a new reason, a new impetus to go on. You came here in a complicated frame of mind. Your motives are always complicated. Ton have no power to change that. It is temperamental " She paused. "Would you close the window, please ? " bhe said, after a moment, " I am chilled. " Though the day was warm she seemed to thiver. Malvern rose and obe ed her behest. The reckless mood of grim mockery and self-con-tempt in which he had entered the house and taken the step of consulting * lifer seeress had given place to a condition of tension, in which it appeared j|| I #ftn that the most impootant ejftfflV of his life was transpiring.

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When lie sat down again, though he governed, himself with an effort xtf the nerves, he was breathless. ' You came here* 1 , resumed his interlocutor, ' with the purpose of making away with yourself lby the easiest and sljortest way that should suggest itself to you ; of ending your life. Y<pii will not accomplish your intention^ though. . You have a fixture. It is not any brighter all frfre way through, as far as I call see, than most people's. But it has its very sunny patches. Above all — it is more to you, this, than the rest — there & success in it ; success In your profession, in your affairs. No, you will not commit suicide, either now or ever. In fact, you will never think of committing that cowardice again. Bo you want anything more ? Proofs?' Names? Anything tangible ? People., usua.]y\ have questions to put. t-o far as t can, I give them the worth of their money.' The last-i ew sentences . had been spoken in a different tone, with a return to the partly cynical, partly sarcastic abruptness of which her "visitor had been conscious on her first' appearing. Sha had the effect | of having convej'ed her momentous message to him in a different iden> tity ; to have met him again at present on another, the trivial, the commonplace footing established by her calling, her ghoulish looking cat, her esoteric robe. Malvem had got on his feet. ' How do you know all this that you have told me ?' he asked huskily. Mdme Zelda Fuyhl had risen also. c Ah, you wouldn't have me betray the secrets of the trade !' she laughed. ' Well, you are a most extraordinary person. I don't know that I care that any one living should so have read my inmost thought. But you have read it." ' Oh, yes, of course, j have rarely failed. And you need not feel any aianbyance at my being the possessor of your secret either. These things axe forgotten with me as soon as they are known. 1 1 don't know that I want you to forget it altogether,' said Malvem unexpectedly. . She looked at him narrowly. ' I fail to follow you,' she said coldly. /nd sbe received in silence the money he put upon the table. The next day there came a note for Mdme Zelda Buy hi. She hesi- i tated a moment before answering it, and then she wrote a few words iv reply. In the evening they brought Mai vein. The lights only made the shabbiness of all this Bohemien milieu more apparent. But Mdme Euyhl evidently did not always don tho prophetic and sibyl-line attire. In her ordinary dret-s she showed her- I self what Malvem suspected her of being, a refined woman, formed by other influences, and by some caprice of fate set down among these conditions. 'Perhaps you wonder that I should have asked the privi'ege of coming here ?' Malvem began. • Yes.' ' Well, it is very singu'ar, but I somehow you seem, with the dis : , closures you made to me yest- rday, to have come nearer to me > han any human being, and so I wished .to - tell you what happened to me this morning. You did not speak of it-' yourself, by the way.' What! has your legacy come to I you. No, I did not mention it.' ' Yes, ' an uncle of mine died in ' Boston last night. I had the news ' this morning. I am going ou there £ tomorrow. I am mentioned in his * will. But before going I wanted to « see you again, for it was you who ' kept me alive, you know. Things have been going about as badiy a with me axsJiey well could. I was , « determined to end it.' •Yes, the impulse was natural perhaps; but it was very foolish,' said the seeress. She seemed to give him no en- . couragement to prolong his visit. She sat there, fair and tall and placid and strong, and a living enigma to the man. ' I shall find out more about her. I shall come back again. I shall follow her up,' Malvern kept saying over and over to himself. He rose abruptly. ' Good-bye,' she said, and for the first time be saw her smile—a beautiful smile which made her mystery to him the greater — "I am glad of your good fortune — I congratulate you.' ' ] When Malvern returned from Boston and had permitted a certain time to elapse he made his way toward the street he had trodden on the most momentuous day of his life. He had a little difficulty in finding the house he was looking for. Mdme. Zelda Euyhl's plate had disappeared. Mdme. Zelda Euyhl had disappeared as well, and, notwithstanding? most strenuous efforts on his part no trace of her did Malvern find, then or ever. Three years have since elapsed. He has been successful in his profession, and he has not married. He is a favourite with women,, and yet it is known that on one or two critical occasions he has been heard to say :•' ' I have met but one horoughly interesting woman in my life, and she was a clairvoyant.'— New York