hrill of three hours'
duration.

And he would realize it next year, but he was in a hurry to open now, to
plant his flag of victory:

"_Faites vite! Depechez_!"

Dare Devil had won the place for him and Jimmy was bringing him the
sensational attraction, the inspired godsend which would pack the
Astrarium for six months and fill its till and spread its name far and
wide over Europe.

Harrasford thought of this with a puff at his cigar, after glancing at the
photographs on the wall, and then, suddenly:

"Let's see the program."

"Nothing but bill-toppers," said Jimmy. "Picked turns from the first to
the last ..."

"Which will be you," Harrasford broke in.

"Yes ... I ... or somebody else ..."

"What do you mean, somebody else?"

"Perhaps," said Jimmy, "to heighten the effect of my turn ... for reasons
which I'll explain to you ... perhaps it would be better to have a woman
... better for the success of the attraction!" he hastened to add, at an
astonished gesture of Harrasford's.

"And ... are you sure?" asked the other.

"I think so," said Jimmy.

"The program first," said Harrasford, returning to his notes.

"We open with a gallery in marble and gold, something showy and quaint, in
the Potsdam style, with a negress inside."

"I know. Light of Asia, eh? The armless Chinese girl whom I discovered at
Poplar.... Music of cymbals and triangles, eh?"

"No," said Jimmy. "I have something better ... more aesthetic, less cruel
... a Soudanese woman from Chicago. She walks on to the stage in a
low-necked dress ... a magnificent woman ... a creamy complexion, with a
touch of pink ... and golden hair ..."

"You said a negress," interrupted Harrasford.

"Wait ... a splendid voice ... classical music ... then a wild African
melody.... She feels a flutter of homesickness; the perspiration streams
down her face; she presses the sponge soaked in water, hidden beneath her
wig,--and the enamel, the white of the shoulders, the pink cheeks all
trickle away and, finally she appears black as ebony, and, to the growl of
the kettle-drums, does a disheveled dance, kicking up her legs like a
puppet on a string ... Patti-Patty ... talent and absurdity mixed ... a
crazy toy ... movement and noise, while the hall fills."

"Next?" asked Harrasford.

"Next, without any interval," continued Jimmy, "directly after that
performance by the court fool before his majesty the audience, the curtain
rises upon a park ... and the New