THE ANGEL GABRIEL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5581, 3 June 1896, Page 2

THE ANGEL GABRIEL.

. MR STEAD'S "JULIA" OUTDONE. THE LATEST PARISIAN SENSATION. [From Our Corkespondent.] LONDON, April 18. Mr Stead's " Julia " must ' hide her diminished head. A greater than she has arisen. • The Angel Gabriel, bored peradventure by too much celestial trumpeting, i 3 taking a vivid interest in sublunary affairs, and, temporarily enshrining himself within the body of a young lady, Mdlle. Couesdon, predicts vigorously the immediately decimation and damnation of Great Britain. Mademoiselle was, until recently, an uninteresting young Frenchwoman, thiuking merely of dress, pleasure and a possible husband. Why Gabriel took her up is not very clear, as she isn't at all pretty. Her parents (a Breton lawyer and his wife) allege that the angelic advent took place six months ago, signalising itself in a remarkable manner. About that time the usual placidity of their daughter gave way to tits of. torpor and trances, during which the girl used to utter most extraordinary phrases in a remarkable gruff voice. They attributed this at first to indigestion, and then to disappointment in a little love affair, and thought a change of surroundings would do the young lady all the good in the world. But the Augel Gabriel willed otherwise. He had chosen Mdlle. Couesdon for the fulfilling of a mission of truth, and finding the atmosphere of Saint Brieuc unpropitious for the propaganda, ordered the Couesdon family to return to Paris. And there they now are, in aflat of the Rue tie Paradis— a predestined, name — and they TELL°TOU OP EXTRAORDINARY THINGS whilst you wait your turn, for of course the doors of Mdlle. Couesdon are beseiged. You learn, among other things, that the girl is absolutely unconscious of all her answers and speeches when in a tranca — most willing, in fact, acting under irresistible impulse, to lend herself to any amount of interrogatories — and that no idea of lucre enters into the whole business. You aro even asked not to tip the servant. Mdlle. says about the same, in a pleasing^ voice,- and proclaims her readiness, Gabriel willing. "For the Angel Gabriel, though anxious to enlighten everybody on things personal, in the past, in the present, or in the future, and also willing to talk on the subjects of diplomacy and politics, will stand no nonsense. At any rate there is no uncertainty about the business, as Mdlle. Couesdou tells you at once how the angel is disposed. She falls instantly into a trance, and answer 3 your questions in a sing-song manner, automatically, and in a voice which certainly is not hers. There is no mistake that she tells you the most extraordinary things about your own intimate affairs, and that the precision of her statements is apt to be disquieting. ■- The angel's special aversion is Great Britain, and several times a day does ho proclaim the doom of our wicked race. Some may derive consolation from the fact that France is also in a bad way, a revolution, commune, anarchy, and a terrible war, which will leave her half the present size, being her portion. There is to be a Pretender into the bargain — somebody altogether unknown from over the seas — Menelek, perhaps, or the Khalifa.