“We want to raise the level of the whole thing,” he said once. “Esther’s pretty well-known in the east, already; we want to extend the lectures and the personal appearances, till she can go anywhere, coast to coast, and be sure of a hearing. Then we’ll think about a world tour.”

“But it can’t last for ever,” said Mrs Bannister doubtfully. “Not on those lines. People will lose interest, unless it’s tied to something definite. We ought to make it a million-dollar appeal, or a hospital for the blind, or something like that.”

“I’m working on that,” he told her briskly. “But we don’t want to fix any definite sum, and we don’t want a specific building either – otherwise we run out of attractions as soon as we’ve reached our target. We want something big but vague – something like an Esther Costello Corporation. It will collect money for the blind – and we’ll have a free hand to allocate the money ourselves.”

“We’ll need some other people, to make it look right,” said Mrs Bannister. “The public like a lot of names.”

“One can always buy names,” he said. “Take a look at the cosmetic advertisements … As long as we retain effective control, it doesn’t matter how many guinea pigs there are on the board.”

“Church people are a good bet,” she said, after a pause, prepared to be helpful. “Bishops, clergymen … In fact we might give the whole thing a religious angle. It still draws the crowds in America – and the confidence.”

“What sort of religion?”

“Well, Esther’s a Roman Catholic, technically. So am I, for that matter.”

Charles Bannister considered the point.

“No, not RC,” he said finally. “It’s too sectional – you make too many enemies at the same time as you make friends.” He smirked. “It’s really too early to try to get her canonized.”

“Charles, please! … Something else, then. What about Methodist?”

He shook his head again. “Not even that. Religious people are so damned clannish … Better keep it vague – like the Corporation itself. It gives us a lot more scope. Don’t forget,” he added, “that she’s got to have a universal appeal.” He smirked again. “It would be a pity if we left the Jews out of a thing like this.”

“It’s a big job, however you handle it,” Mrs Bannister commented. “Are you still sure you want to go ahead with it, Charles?”

“Yes,” he answered. “That’s one thing I am sure of.”

In those early days, they were on a level plane of intention. But it was not long before she was left far behind, whence even her protests could not reach him.

They started with a tour to the west coast; it was an obvious extension of their activities in the east, and they had, to guide them, a path already well beaten by boxers, wrestlers, burlesque artists, religious sectarians, and lecturers on English literature in the seventeenth century … Their westward tour lasted over three months, and they were fortunate in many things: in the weather, the absence of other attractions, and the fact that, though this was the farthest from home that Esther had ever travelled, her fame had already preceded her.