And,' he said with
a smile, 'the fact that ten days or a fortnight always elapses between the
time I am asked to receive a new client and his or her first interview
with me, enables me to make such minute inquiries that I can not only gain
their complete confidence by my knowledge of certain events in their past,
but it will aid me in my divination of their future.
"'I believe in the stars, madame, wholly and implicitly, but the knowledge
to be gained from them is general and not particular; but with that
general knowledge, and with what I know of men's personal character and
habits, of their connections, of their political schemes and personal
ambitions, I am able in the majority of cases so to supplement the
knowledge I gain from the stars, as to trace their future with an accuracy
that seems to them astonishing indeed. For example, madame, had I read in
the stars that a dire misfortune impended over you last night, and had I
learned that there was a talk among the butchers that the provost of the
silversmiths was a strong opponent of theirs, and that steps would shortly
be taken to show the Parisians the danger of opposing them, it would have
needed no great foresight on my part to tell you that you were threatened
with a great danger, and that the danger would probably take the form of
an attack by the rabble on the house you occupied. I should naturally put
it less plainly. I should tell you to beware of this date, should warn you
that I saw threatening faces and raised weapons, and that the sounds of
angry shouts demanding blood were in my ears.
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