I never told him how extraordinarily à propos his present had proved, but I have always looked upon that brooch as a mascot, and have certainly worn it every day since it came into my possession.
CHAPTER III
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Shortly after the Jubilee of 1887 had taken place, I sailed for Australia and New Zealand.
My first psychic experience in the Colonies took place in Melbourne, some months after my landing in Tasmania.
The wife of one of the "prominent citizens" in Melbourne had been specially invited to meet me at an afternoon reception in the house of friends to whom I had carried letters of introduction, as she was said to be so deeply interested in everything psychic, and would greatly enjoy hearing my American experiences. Fortunately, the lady arrived late, and we had already enjoyed some interesting conversation before she came. A wetter "wet blanket" it has never been my fortune to encounter. She was a very handsome woman, and therefore good to look at, but in the rôle of sympathetic audience she was a miserable failure. She sat with a cold, glassy eye fixed upon me, whilst I endeavoured to continue the conversation which had been interrupted by her arrival.
She might just as well have said as have looked the words: "Now go on making a fool of yourself!—that is just what I have come to see."
The position was hopeless. So I began to talk about the weather, which is disagreeable enough from sirocco in the hot spring months (it was the end of October) to be useful.
Presently the daughter of the house came up to me, and said: