A READER OF. FATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 149, 25 June 1932, Page 9 (Supplement)

A READER OF. FATE.

DOOM OFS KINGS FORETOLD.

T.TWBK or LIFE AND DEATH.

CONFESSIONS OF A PALMIST.

come as news to most people tbafc King -iEdward took an interest in tbitmboiy «f the Enes sund marks of the hatttL "Cheiro," one of the most famous of modern palm readers, tells us in his "Cwrfeßßkms* that he was once asked to-the louse of Lady Arthur Paget to reed the hands of a certain gentleman wbo would be there. On arriving, he frxmd that lie and his client were to git on -opposite sides of a curtain:—

I proceeded to examine the hands Hxsfom m® as calmly as I would have done if the interview had taken place in my own rooms. Tuesdays, Thursday® and Fridays, I said, were the most important days of each week for him; his important numbers were sixes and nines; while the months representing these numbers, being March 21 to April 29, April 21 to May 20, and October 21 to November 20, had contained, and would contain, the most important events affecting his life.

"Strange," said a deep and somewhat guttural voice, "but that is remarkably true."

At that moment lie allowed his hands to rest too heavily upon the curtain. The fastening pins came out, the curtain dropped at our feet—and I found myself looking into the -well-known face of the British Heir Apparent, as he was then..

We are told that the interview continued, however, and that the King himself foretold his own death at the age of G9, the year in which the two important numbers of his life first came together. The Fatal Numbers. On Friday, May C, 1910, in his eixty--1 ninth year, the first time that the ''fadic" numbers of six and nine came together in his life, King Edward VII. was gathered to his forefathers. But meeting and having consultations with Royalty seems to have been an everyday occurrence with "Choiro. One day in Paris, just as he was sitting down to lunch, his servant announced that "an elderly gentleman who had a great resemblance to the King of Belgium" was in the salon: —

Through the dining room door, to my amazement, I saw that my visitor was indeed none other than King Leopold, and, hastily entering, I apologised for the smell of lunch that pervaded the apartment.

He stood up, his great height towering over me. Very gravely he said: "Monsieur 'Chfiiro,' I want yon to do

me a favour. I am sure I smell Irish stew; it is a dish I always relish, so do me the favour of asking me to help you with it." ...

In a few minutes we eat down to the table, and my illustrious visitor did full justice to my Irish dish.

King Leopold made an appointment to see "Cheiro" a few days later in Brussels. This time, we are told, it was the King who provided the stew — making it himself and helping to eat it in the kitchen at Laeken Palace. And — rather ungratefully —"Cheiro" afterwards predicted his host's death from digestive and intestinal trouble 1 King Humbert's Fate. After Irish 6tew with one king in Brussels came a meeting with another in Bome—the late King Humbert. The King, "Cheiro" felt, wanted to know the truth: —

As I stood examining his hands with their characteristic marks, I saw as in a tableau the sword of Fate suspended over his head. The few months that lay between him and the fatal day stood out clearly before my occult consciousness. I dared to tell him all.

"Your Majesty," I said, slowly, "you have already escaped the attack of the assassin, and you may escape again. But I must tell you that three months from now all the signs point to the end of your life."

He turned pale, withdrew his hand, leaned back in the chair for a few seconds, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, then, if it is Fate—che sara sara!"

Three months later King Humbert was assassinated.

Rasputin's " Magnetism."

After this, one is hardly surprised when "Cheiro" tells us that he predicted a violent death for the ill-fated Czar of Russia. But what is more interesting than the consultation at the Summer Palace at Peterhof is a glimpse of Easputin, the Czar's evil genius:—

When I first met Rasputin, I could not help hut realise —although I had no idea who my visitor was—that 1 was in the presence of one of those extraordinary men who are born into the world as instruments of Fate. There was no question about his overpowering will power and magnetism, but it was what I might call "animal magnetism/' - By his luminous, compelling eyes he attempted from the first moment to hypnotise me as he had done so many hundreds of others. It was only my long experience of such things that saved me. Instead of looking into his eyes, I concentrated my attention on a point between his eyebrows, with the result that he could have no power over

"Cheiro" examined the Monk's hands —"thick, coarse, and very dirty." Tha line of life, it appears, was cut through ominously, half-way down the palm, ferocity. "What of asked: —

future?" Rasputin

I remained, silent. Dare I reveal the terrible vision of blood that seemed to have formed before my mind. As I studied the hands of the boastful man seated before me, I seemed to see him

gliding from the Cabinet of the Emperor with, an evil smile upon liis dark face, insinuating himself into the deepest confidences of the Empress who knelt reverently before liim, and hailed him as "Holy Father," and at la«t yielding up his life mid a scene of terrible "Well, what is it, seer?" asked Easputin, in a taunting voice. "I foresee for you a violent end within a palace. You will be menaced bv poison, by knife, and by bulfet. Finally I see the icy -waters of the Neva closing above you."

Eight again!

Gaby Deslys' Problem.

It is a short step from kings to friends of kings. One day a heavilyveiled woman came into "Cheiro's" apartment in Paris. According to his rule, no name was given, and "Cheiro" began his examination: —

"Madame, there must be considerable perplexity in your mind at the present time, for you hare excited interest in the hearts of two men, both much older than yourself, and who have the means to gratify their wishes. . . . These two men both wear a crown, but up to now you have repelled them both." She removed her hands from the cushion and put them up to her veiled face, as though to control her thoughts. Then she said in a low voice: —

"My name is Gaby Deslys. You know all about me by repute"—at this time she was making a triumphant success at the Folios Bergere in Paris— "I have had invitations to supper from both King Carlos of Portugal and King Leopold of Belgium." But which of them the exotic Gaby favoured "Cheiro" does not eay —possibly, being Gaby, she managed supper with both. A Meeting With Mata Hari. Few people can claim the doubtful distinction of having had Mata Hari, the famous war-time woman spy, spending the night on their hearth-rug. One cold, sleety night in Paris "Cheiro" saw a woman without a coat warming her hands in front of a workman's brazier. Stirred, possibly, by a meeting he had been attending "in aid of the badlytreated cats and dogs of Paris," he spoke to her:—

"I can't leave you here trying to warm yourself at a brazier on such a night as this. Have you no home?" "No!" she said, and turned rapidly away.

Yes, I admit I followed her. . . . Alehouse was 110 distance away. Would she come there and warm herself?"

An hour later, after some supper and a good many cigarettes, she curled upon the hearthrug and slept till morning. It was in this way I made the acquaint ance of Mata Hari.

It was not until later that she became a spy in the pay of Germany. Some time after their first meeting, "Clieiro" says, he predicted a violent death for her about October, 1927. As usual ...