But there is a man coming this way (should he happen
to pass through this town) who will surprise and frighten
you. No one knows who he is. He is named
the Great Aristodemus. He knows the past, the
present, and the future. He never looks at people’s
hands—he only looks you in the face, and
woe be to them who tell him a lie. Otherwise,
he is good-tempered and obliging, and will tell what
will come to pass, and his predictions never have
been known to fail. They say that he is hundreds
of years old, and his hair is white as silver.”
At this information many expressed their doubts, and
many others vaunted the powers of the gipsy.
Melchior replied, “that all he knew was, that
for the sum of two guineas paid down, he had told him
of a legacy left him of six hundred pounds, which
otherwise he would never have known of or received.”
All the town of —— being quite alive
for fortune-telling, this new report gained wind,
and after a week’s sojourn, Melchior thought
that the attempt should be made.
Chapter XIII
The seed having been
carefully sown, we now reap a golden
harvest—We
tell every body what they knew before, and we are
looked upon as most
marvellous by most marvellous fools.
We accordingly packed up, and departed to another
market town. Timothy, dressed in a sombre suit
of black, very much like an undertaker, was provided
with a horse, with the following directions: to
proceed leisurely until he was within half a mile
of the town of ——, and then to gallop
in as fast as he could, stop at the best inn in the
place, and order apartments for the Great Aristodemus,
who might be expected in half an hour. Every
thing in this world depends upon appearances, that
is, when you intend to gull it; and as every one in
the town had heard of the Great Aristodemus, so every
one was anxious to know something about him, and Timothy
was pestered with all manner of questions; but he
declared that he was only his courier, and could only
tell what other people said; but then what other people
said, by Timothy’s account, was very marvellous
indeed. Timothy had hardly time to secure the
best rooms in the hotel, when Melchior, dressed in
a long flowing silk gown, with a wig of long white
hair, a square cap, and two or three gold chains hanging
from his neck, certainly most admirably disguised,
and attended by me in the dress of a German student,
a wig of long brown locks hanging down my shoulders,
made our appearance in a post-chaise and four, and
drove up to the door of the inn, at a pace which shook
every house in the street, and occasioned every window
to be tenanted with one or more heads to ascertain
the cause of this unusual occurrence, for it was not
a very great town, although once of importance; but
the manufactures had been removed, and it was occupied
by those who had become independent by their own exertions,
or by those of their forefathers.
