CHAPTER VII.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1839, 19 April 1884, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHAPTER VII.

After dinner Herbert elected to walk to the local Town Hall ; it was no great distance away, and the moon had risen and beautified the world. The moonlight was ever an inspiration to Herbert, and as he walked along the pleasant streets, lined with fine villas, embowered in gardens, he began to dream of the future. Herbert, like all young men, had many ambitions, and mostly of a worthy kind. He often dreamed that he would become an example to young Australians — a benofactor to the people, not in an eleemosnary way — but by helping them to better occupations, and wider education, and leading them to wiser views of politics ; besides effecting a revolution in tho financial world, which would in the end, have a great power of good, supplanting the present seifish, grasping system that made the populace hate the capi- . talists with such intensity. He knew he had great power, and he dcshed to use it for the general good ; to do his duty as one entrusted by God with great responsibilities. He had often dreamed of the time when he would be not only Premier of Victoria, but of the great Federated Australia — the Power and nation of the southern world. Dreams ! dreams ! happy dreams of youth I As he entered the principal thoroughfare of the suburb, lined with handsome shops all alight, he was aware of more than usual bustle. Generally the street had a sleepy , air at this time, the shopkeepers having just had their tea, and preparing to close. He had hardly turned into High-street when a boy thru&t a bill into hia hand ; at the next shop he stopped and read it. The bill, in which letters of variou3 founts tried to outdo each other, in attracting attention, ran : — "Hadji Habumassori's magic entertainment. The Hadji has Iho gieat honour to announce that, to-night 1 to-night Ito night ! the performance will be patronised by Mr. Herbert Grifford, (hysterical typography), who will attend in person." The^u bills must have been widely- circula ted ; for, when Herbert got to the Town Hall, he found the doors besieged by a large crowd, r.eaily all of which were of the fashionable, well-dressed soit. The fact was, that Bbenezeer had shown the true qualities of a manager. He had first despatched boys to circulate the bills at the railway station. Tho boyscau-'ht all the fashionable residents of the submbs who returned to it by the trains running from four to half past six o'clock. Nothing, except Herbert, and his fight with the Bovine Bank was talked of, and when folks found they could have a peep at this c lubrity they were wild to get first to ths hail. Herbert was so taken aback by this crowd that, had it bean possible, he would have turned back. As it was, he kept out of observation, and sought means to get in without being noticed, which was hardly needful, as the crowd were on the look-out for the splendid equipage of the millionaire, wbich they expected to drivo up every moment. The doors opened a little after he arrived, and the crowd surged in, as heedless of conventionalities as the ci-iille, for there is something in a mob, especially when there is something to be seen, when selfishness prevails, that breaks down all artificial barriers, and displays the human animal at its worst. When the crush was over Herbert, who had never trembled that day when face to face with his enemies, went up to the door with great trepidation. He would have slunk in and taken a seat anywhere, had he not been spied by Ebenezer and his ushers, who had been on the look-out for the lion of the evening. They took him round through a right-of-way, Herbert thinking he would enter without observation. It was the reverse. A door was opened, and he was ushered in at one side of the stalls. The flood of light, the great sea of faces all directed towards him, for the door had opened with some noise, every eye seeming to strike into his, unnerved the young man. The audience had settled down, and were waiting for the great man, and here, to their great delight, he came upon them like a Deus ex machina, and could be viewed by every one. Crowds have an instinct, and every one there, from the wee larrikin in the back seats to the great 'lady in the fauteuils, knew that it was Herbert Gifford. There is something extraordinary in the power of the human eye. Who that has had to face a great audience, and has found several thousand eyes focussed upon him, but has felt as if a new power had dawned upon his senses ? Great speakers and actors understand this well, and know how to master and beat down the terrible eyes, to make them the means of grasping the will and intellect of the audience. Poor Herbert at that time knew nothing of this. His eyes fell before this optic storm, and his face became red, his heart beat fast. How he got to his seat he never could tell, but there he was at last, wedged in between two fashionably-dressed ladies, one young and pretty, and terribly flustered at being beside so noted a man, whose reputation had not been neglected by the Bcandalmongers who was represented by some as an angel, by others as a Nero or Caligula, and staring helplessly at the drop scene, a representation of an impossible town upon an impossible lake. His other lady companion was of middle age, stout and comfortable, who balanced a gold pincenez upon her bold Eoman nose. The audience had mad no sign of what view they took of Herbert ; they were too engrossed with the operation of metaphorically devouring him. When he sat down the opinions of the public were various. "Is that the fledgling that's causing so much trouble?" snorted the elderly gentleman with bank balances, contemptuously— but their contempt was affected, for even they saw strength and force of character in the features of the flushed handsome face., " Can that be the great millionaire who is fighting the banks, that too, too handsome young fellow ' " cried the~young ladies, in a burst of enthusiasm. "What a fine figure for a footballer," said the young athletes. " Don't look as if he was in good form," said the would-be aristocrats. Fortunately Herbert heard nothing; he was in a kind of maze, and did not recover till the orchestra, specially engaged in his honor, had struck up, and the business of the stage began to take those dreadful eyes off him. The first part of the entertainment passed off without anything of note. It was devoted to the ordinary feats of legerdemain, at which Ebenezer proved himself an ad.ept, and won plaudits from persons who would not have troubled to como to Bee him but for Herbert's presence. Ihe change in Ebenezer's appearance was remarkable. No Arab in Mecca could have looked so genuine as he, or spoken sflch characteristic broken English. He had studied bis part, and was perfect.

By the time the curtain was absut to be raised the second time for the display of the greater and mysterious powers of the Hadji, Herbert was perfectly at hia ease, and returned the stares of the audience with interest. He even condescended to open up a conversation with his two fair neighbors, whereat the elder lady began thinking how she could introduce him to her daughters, and the girl began weaving delicious romances. Herbert little thought he was on the eve of one of the crises of his life. When the curtain rose to the music of " Sicilian Ve3pers " in the boat scene, the stage was found mysterioußly draped with a pall of black cloth oast over something in the | centre. Hadji, attired in a purple robe, covered with magioal signs in gold, advanced, and in a changed tone informed the audience he would exhibit three of the greatest proofs of his power — a woman without a body, the execution of a man upon the stage, and the flight of a lady in the air, without support. Walking back he raised the pall, and there burst upon the audience a beautiful, smiling female face and bust in a frame— there was apparently nothing more. It was not that the illusion was new, but the appointments were so perfect, the face and form so lovely, which caused the audience to cheer. The effect upon Herbert was indeed magical. He could not take his eyes off that charming face. His gaze was so persistent that even its object noticed it, and a rosy flush heightened her exquisite 'beauty. The face belonged to a rare type. The features were moulded in accordance with the true lines of beauty, the eyes were large -and blue,j3uiting the pearly complexion, and a great mass of rich golden hair encircled all like a glory, falling like flo3B silk upon the white, full, rounded bust It was indeed a dream of loveliness. But these were not the great charms ; mere physical charms never are. The mobility of the face, tho sweetness of the smile, the bright hopeful nature peeping out everywhere, the gentle sympathetic eye 3, suited for the expression of all that was tender and gentle ; these were the great charms of that matchless face ; and when in answer to questions put by Ebenezer to show the form was alive and no deception, the figure spoke in a clear, sweet musical voice tho audience were thoroughly conquered. Beauty ha 3 its power, and gieat was the power of this. Herbeit never took his eyes off the enchanting face, and sighed deeply when tho curtain fell and it was shut out. The next scene, though marvellous enough to those who did not know how it was done, was of no interest to Herbert, and he waited feverishly for the last, the Entranced Lady. When the curtain rose upon this Ebenezer came in from one of the wings, leading the beautiful ghl, who made her bow to the audience, and waB tnmultuously received. She was attired in a kind of Grecian dress that showed off to perfection the rare proportions of her slendei but beautifully made form, while it was scrupulously chaste. Ebenezer began his enchantments, bur it Was Herbeit who was entranced in reality, while the girl was only so in a feigned manner. Every change that took place served to add fuel to the fire that had been kindled in his breast. Feeling 3 had been aroused in his heart that evening he had never experienced before. And yet he had been in love, according to his ideas, several times ; had had amours. When the .lovely form drooped and the eyes closed and ths tableau " sleep " was presented. Herbert thought he had never seen anything so enchanting. At times, as Ebenezer manipulated, the form that seemed so thoroughly under his control, pangs passed through Herbert's heart such as he had never known, pangs sweetly painful. He almost hated the poor conjuror for his opportunities. To his eye the love of Ebenezer for his beautiful cousin was ill- concealed, it was shown by the manner his fingers trembled as they touched the lovely form. His suspicions were, indeed, too true, for his great success had set Ebenezer thinking. With the patron he now had he felt he was on the road to fortune, and was this not the time to make Alice hi 3 own? These thoughts made the poor conjuror nervous, and though the audience did not notice it, his manipulation of the Entranced Lady that night was far from as perfect as usual. In the last scene Alice in the attitude of an angel was represented as suspended in the air, without visible support. A beautiful picture she made, a picture that the audience redemanded and whioh was accorded them, but only once. Then the curtain fell, the orchestra struck up the National Anthem, the rustle of the audience, like a wind sweeping through a great forest, was heard, and the entertainment was at an end. And Herbert awoke, and beheld it was not a dream !