【正文】
The Man Who Could Work Miracles Until he was thirty years old, fotheringay did not believe in miracles. It was while he was asserting the impossibility of miracles that he discovered his extraordinary powers. He was having a drink in a bar. Toddy Beamish opposed everything he said by a monotonous but effective “So you say,” and drove him to the limit of his patience. Angry with , Mr. Fotheringay determined to make an unusual effort. “Look here, Mr. Beamish, ” said Mr. Fotheringay. “Let us clearly understand what a miracle is. It?s something contrary to the course of nature done by power of Will.” “So you say,” said Mr. Beamish. “For instance,” said Mr. Fotheringay. “Here would be a miracle. That lamp, in the natural course of nature, couldn?t burn like that upside down, could it, Beamish?” “You said it couldn?t,” said Beamish. “And you?” said Fotheringay. “You don?t mean to say.....?” “No,” said Beamsih reluctantly. “No, it couldn?t.” “Very well,” said Mr. Fotheringay. “Then here es someone, perhaps my self, and stands here, and says to that lamp, as i might do, colleting all my will ?Turn upside down without braking, and go on burning steady,? andHullo!” It was enough to make anyone say “Hullo!” the incredible was visible to them all. The lamp hung upside down in the air, burning quietly with its flame pointing down. Mr. Fotheringay stood with a forefinger stretched out and the troubled face of one expecting a terrible crash. A cyclist, who was sitting next to the lamp, ducked and jumped across the bar. For nearly three seconds the lamp remained still. A faint cry of mental distress came from Mr. Fot