"Practise concentration," he said, "and develop your will power, if
only by a very little, every day. Jump off a stool to begin with,
saying to yourself as you do so: 'I will remain in the air. I won't
touch the ground,'--and though you may fail for the hundredth time, if
only you keep on trying you will eventually succeed. To keep your
equilibrium on a bicycle is a feat which would have been pronounced
utterly impossible by your ancestors of two hundred years ago; but
just as that power came to you--after many futile efforts, all at
once--so, in the end, will flying come to you. See, I am now going to
rise to the highest point in the building. Gravity pulls me back, but
I say to myself: 'I will rise--I will fly there'--and fly there I
do!"--and, springing off the ground, he struck out with his arms and
legs, flew swiftly and easily to the dome of the hall, which he
touched--and then flew back again to the stage.
This completed the evening's entertainment. If only on the strength of
its first performance, the Modern Sorcery Company, in our opinion, has
more than justified its name; and although we understand they will
give no more performances gratis, we feel confident in prophesying
that, for many a long night, there will be no falling off in the
attendance.
CHAPTER XIV
SHIEL TO THE RESCUE
Gladys did not feel too happy when she read notices such as these; she
could not do other than see in them destruction to her father, and the
worst of it all was she could do nothing to help him.
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