We watched him unpack the leather-bound boxes, producing all manner of strange objects: hats, scarves, candles, and parts of some complicated contraption. Already a crowd had started to gather, ladies, gentlemen and even children, though he was obviously far from ready. He had no assistant to help, nor, I believe, did he need one.
Each object, no matter how seemingly unimportant, paid he the utmost attention, and placed it so precisely, only a master of his art could he be.
With everything set as he would wish, and with the crowd so large that several shoppers in the square had begun to complain, he stood before us, dressed in top hat and tailcoat, his gloved hands raised to command attention.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ said he, his voice rich and sonorous. ‘Today, you shall bear witness t
