Explore "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" by Fergus Hume on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The old Greek legend of Midas turning everything he touched into gold, is truer than most people imagine. Mediaeval superstition changed the human being who possessed such a power into the philosopher's stone -- the stone which so many alchemists sought in the dark ages. But we of the nineteenth century have given back into human hands this power of transformation.
But we do not ascribe it either to Greek deity, or to superstition; we call it luck. And he who possesses luck should be happy notwithstanding the proverb which hints the contrary. Luck means more than riches -- it means happiness in most of those things, which the fortunate possessor of it may choose to touch. Should he speculate, he is successful; if he marry, his wife will surely prove everything to be desired; should he aspire to a position, social or political, he not only attains it, but does so with comparative ease. Worldly wealth, domestic happiness, high position, and complete success -- all these things belong to the man who has luck.