Madame Sara | Page 5

are standing at present in a small room just behind Madame Sara's
shop," I answered. "Why are you so excited, Miss Dallas? What is the
matter with you?"
"We are on the threshold of a magician's cave," she replied. "We shall
soon be face to face with the most marvellous woman in the whole of
London. There is no one like her."
"And you--fear her?" I said, dropping my voice to a whisper.
She started, stepped back, and with great difficulty recovered her
composure. At that moment the page-boy returned to conduct us
through a series of small waiting-rooms, and we soon found ourselves
in the presence of Madame herself.
"Ah!" she said, with a smile. "This is delightful. You have kept your

word, Edith, and I am greatly obliged to you. I will now show Mr.
Druce some of the mysteries of my trade. But understand, sir," she
added, "that I shall not tell you any of my real secrets, only as you
would like to know something about me you shall."
"How can you tell I should like to know about you?" I asked.
She gave me an earnest glance which somewhat astonished me, and
then she said:
"Knowledge is power; don't refuse what I am willing to give. Edith,
you will not object to waiting here while I show Mr. Druce through the
rooms. First observe this room, Mr. Druce. It is lighted only from the
roof. When the door shuts it automatically locks itself, so that any
intrusion from without is impossible. This is my sanctum sanctorum--a
faint odour of perfume pervades the room. This is a hot day, but the
room itself is cool. What do you think of it all?"
I made no answer. She walked to the other end and motioned to me to
accompany her. There stood a polished oak square table, on which lay
an array of extraordinary looking articles and implements - stoppered
bottles full of strange medicaments, mirrors, plane and concave,
brushes, sprays, sponges, delicate needle-pointed instruments of bright
steel, tiny lancets, and forceps. Facing this table was a chair, like those
used by dentists. Above the chair hung electric lights in powerful
reflectors, and lenses like bull's-eye lanterns. Another chair, supported
on a glass pedestal, was kept there, Madame Sara informed me, for
administering static electricity. There were dry-cell batteries for the
continuous currents and induction coils for Faradic currents. There
were also platinum needles for burning out the roots of hairs.
Madame took me from this room into another, where a still more
formidable array of instruments was to be found. Here were a wooden
operating table and chloroform and ether apparatus. When I had looked
at everything, she turned to me.
"Now you know," she said. "I am a doctor - perhaps a quack. These are
my secrets. By means of these I live and flourish."

She turned her back on me and walked into the other room with the
light, springy step of youth. Edith Dallas white as a ghost, was waiting
for us.
"You have done your duty, my child," said Madame. "Mr. Druce has
seen just what I want him to see. I am very much obliged to you both.
We shall meet tonight at Lady Farringdon's 'At Home'. Until then,
farewell."
When we got into the street and were driving back again to Eaton
Square, I turned to Edith.
"Many things puzzle me about your friend," I said, "but perhaps none
more than this. By what possible means can a woman who owns to
being the possessor of a shop obtain the entrŽe to some of the best
houses in London? Why does Society open her doors to this woman,
Miss Dallas?"
"I cannot quite tell you," was her reply. "I only know the fact that
wherever she goes she is welcomed and treated with consideration, and
wherever she fails to appear there is a universally expressed feeling of
regret."
I had also been invited to Lady Farringdon's reception that evening, and
I went there in a state of great curiosity. There was no doubt that
Madame interested me. I was not sure of her. Beyond doubt there was a
mystery attached to her, and also, for some unaccountable reason, she
wished both to propitiate and defy me. Why was this?
I arrived early, and was standing in the crush near the head of the
staircase when Madame was announced. She wore the richest white
satin and quantities of diamonds. I saw her hostess bend towards her
and talk eagerly. I noticed Madame's reply and the pleased expression
that crossed Lady Farringdon's face. A few minutes later a man with a
foreign-looking face and long beard sat down before the grand piano.
He played a light prelude and Madame Sara began to sing. Her