SEEN IN THE CITY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 2

SEEN IN THE CITY.

A LARGE DEAL IN "FUTURES." CHIEFLY FOR GIRLS AND .WOMEN. Time and place do not matter foi- the naming, for the times and places in Wellington are numerous, open to all. It is a little hail, a, little table littered with written questions and various "properties," a congregation of curious girls and women, a few men — and "madame." Tho lights are up all the time, for "madame" does not profess to be in league with the powers of darkness. She is not weird, except at odd times when a specialty difficult question makes her show the whites of her eyes; she is even jocose. There is a demand for fortune-telling, and "madame" supplies it heartily, sometimes with a breezy patter, at which she and her audience smile. Some believe ; some do not. It is all the same to "madame." Believers and unbelievers alike pay at the door. A lady wanted to know what an absent sick sister was likely to do, and desired "madame" to help her. The querist had a notion — which "madame" quickly divined — that the sick one would take a trip by sea. "She is going north — I feel a condition of the north," said "madame." The questioner then declared that if her sister had travelled at all it would havo been by steamer to the South. "Madame" was not perturbed. "I want a compass here," she smiled, and turned gaily to the nextenvelope. A very sturdy-looking woman, solidly and squarely built, seemed to be nervous about her health, and asked for a lifting of the future's veil. She was assured by "madame" that her blood was diluted with water. The woman professed ignorance of any thinning of the circulation, but "madame" insisted that the blood was impoverished, and the strong-looking one had to be content with the answer. "Tell me whether I shall have success in studies, and what has the future in store for mother?" ran one of the questions. "Madame's" brow puckered, and her hands described various curves. "There is success," she said, after a pause of .some seconds. "There is success in the condition of this question. More success comes up here" — and she moved a hand to indicate it. "Do you follow that ? The studies seem to be building up success. There is no going back. There is great success all along the line. I like the conditions. Everything is very bright." That was all very nice for the student, but, unhappily, "mother" was overlooked. A young lady, fashionably dressed, desired a peep into the beyond. "Did you have a calamity two years back?" asked "madame," and while the questioner was vainly ransacking the archives of memory, "madame" suddenly asked : "Did you get married?" To which the lady said "No" vigorously, and all laughed, including "madame." There was more desultory search for this "calamity" of the past, and then "madame" turned to the more interesting business of the future. "Madame" suggested that something uncommon was to happen twelve months hence. "Are you going to get married twelve months ahead?" she asked. The girl laughed merrily. "No, I don't think bo," she answered, but the reply did not alter "madame's" declaration that something uncommon, but not specified, would happen a year from that night. It was like one of Mother Shipton's prophecies. The funniest dialogue of the evening was between "madame" and a man. He had sent up a note, enquiring generally about his prospects. "Madame" : Havo you anything to do with stringed instruments ? The man : No. "Madame" (looking about her and gesticulating) : I am getting a sound of instruments — I mean stringed instruments. Have you anybody belonging to you that plays stringed instruments? The man : No. "Madame" : Have you any brass buttons about you? Tho man (sepulchrally and firmly) : No. "Madam«" : Or anybody at home with brass buttons ? The man : No. "Madame." (whimsically, but confidently) : I get stringed instruments, and then I get brass buttons. There must be some "condition" of instruments or brass buttons where you are going, or I could not be getting it. Did you make a move about January? The man •. Yes. "Madame" : Are you thinking of making a change in May ? The man : No ; I may later on. "Madame" (decisively) : May. She then assured the questioner that somewhere in the 'sphere into which he would move he would get mixed up with stringed_ instruments and brass button*. "I don't mean you are going to join a. band," she stiid reassmingly, but hinleJ that both the stringed instruments and the brass buttons might belong to somebody who would come into the questioner's life. So he had the prospect of a targe world in vhich a fiddle, a basK viol, a guitar, or other stringed instrument was portentously associated with brass button*, and he went out hoping for the best.