Richard Harding Davis

“ There were many people at the reception which followed the dinner; wise-looking judges of the Mixed Courts and their wives and native princes, secretaries of the many diplomatic agencies, and an abundance of scarlet mess-jackets on officers of the Army of Occupation. They outshone even the women in the brilliancy of their apparel, with their broad bands of gold braid and rows of tiny brass buttons. They outshone the men, too, in the ruddy tan of their faces, burned by the sun of the Soudan and roughened by the the sand of the desert. ”

“ But the costume fitted the moment with peculiar appropriateness, and as the girl raised her bare arm to write, she looked like a blind prophetess, or a beautiful witch who might transform them all into four-footed animals. She appeared so well standing in outline against the background, with the lights playing over the spangles, that both the men and the women present were more intent upon her than upon what she was about to do. ”

“ It is not wise to despise the enemy. What would you think if the Dual Control, which is not a Dual Control, should be revived, but with this important difference, that it should be France and Russia, and not France and England, who are to guide the future of these Egyptians?"
Miss Page glanced with a smile down the table to where the English Consul-General sat, large, broad-shouldered, and aggressive-looking even over his sweetmeats. ”

“ Panine's frown was quite genuine now. "Ah, so," he said, with mocking politeness, "you think it absurd? Yes," he added; "you are quite right. It is nothing, just a game, and, as you say, quite absurd-quite absurd. You relieve me," he added. "I had feared perhaps you had learned something. Even the most experienced in our service is sometimes indiscreet, when it is a beautiful woman to whom he talks."
Her eyes closed for an instant, which was a trick they had when she was annoyed or bored, and she turned to Immen with a smile. ”

“ The English Minister turned to his American confrère with a smile, "That sounds rather interesting," he said. "How will he do it?"
The American was silting with his lips puckered and with his eyes half closed. "I was just trying' to think," he said, doubtfully. "Of course it is a trick. I don't believe in thought-transference myself. He either moves his assistant's hand, and makes him think that he is doing it himself when he is not, or the assistant does what the little boy did. There is no other way." ”

“ Bannerman, the English mind-reader, busied himself in selecting a committee, and the others seated themselves on the divans around the room, and discussed the self-possessed young woman with the yellow-dyed hair who served as the mind-reader's assistant, and to whom be referred as "my ward." They all agreed that he was certainly very clever, and as an entertainer a decided relief after the amateur musicians of doubtful talent who had been forced upon them at other houses. ”

“ IMMEN Pasha's dinner was given to Miss Page, although it was ostensibly in honor of the British Minister, whose wife sat on Immen's right, and tested that Oriental's composed politeness greatly. But at times he would turn to Miss Page, and she would murmur with him in French, and he would have his reward. The condition upon which Miss Page had come to the dinner was that it should be an Oriental one throughout, and so the table was accordingly of silver, and each strange sticky course was served in a golden bowl, and each fork and bore a ruby and a diamond in its handle. ”

“ The Egyptians and the English looked at each other and smiled, but the tone of the man was so full of confidence that their faces filled again with intent interest. Carefully and deftly Bannerman drew the silk scarf across the girl's forehead, hut she raised her hands and unwound it and dropped it on the floor. ”

“ Does that make me so very old?"
"But you've seen such a lot, and you've been around so much, and all that," he argued. "That's what makes people old. Helen, don't you ever intend to get married?"
"Never," said the sister. "I am going to live with you, and keep you from falling in love with a nicer girl than myself, and we will promise each other never to marry, but just to go about like this always, and explore places and have adventures." ”

“ And his assistant, at his command, described rings and coins and pocket-pieces held up before her blindfolded eyes. Then Bannerman read the numbers on an English bank-note, chalking them out on a blackboard,and rearranged groups and tableaux which had been previously stage-managed and separated during his absence from the room. He was extremely easy and clever, and smiled an offensively humble smile as each exhibition was rewarded by enthusiastic approbation. Nothing quite so out of the common had been given them during the season. Magicians they had in plenty ”

“ There was no question but that the sentence, so far, was in the most correct Arabic.
"He has established what he claims to do already," whispered Hoffmeyer Bey to Bannerman's ward. The girl nodded her head. Her lips were parted, and she was breathing quickly.
The chalk moved again, hesitated, and stopped. The mind-reader read over to himself what was written. ”

“ As ho pronounced these words there was a sudden movement in the circle about him, coming from no one person, and yet so apparent in its significance that each looked furtively at his neighbor, and then dropped his eyes, or turned them anxiously towards the blackboard. Bannerman raised his body, and straightened himself as though he was about to speak further, but the scratching and tapping of the chalk upon the board interrupted him, and he dropped his head. ”

“ The man who sat on Miss Page's left at Immen Pasha's dinner was Prince Panine, the Russian First Secretary. He had known Miss Page in Washington when he was an attaché of the Russian legation there, and had been bold enough to ask her to marry him. ”