Here it is"--and beckoning to the referees to come quite close,
he pointed to a glass screen, in the centre of the base of which was a
glass trap-door, corresponding in height and girth to the head of the
coffin. "Here, corpse!" Curtis said, "crawl through"--and Hamar,
looking as if he by no means appreciated the undignified task of
wriggling on his stomach before so many eyes, drew himself as tight
together as he could, and squirmed through. "Does that satisfy you, gentlemen?" Curtis inquired. "Perfectly!" the referees answered. "Nothing could be plainer. We see
exactly, now, how the trick is done." At this there was a loud outburst of clapping, and Curtis bowed in the
elegant manner in which he had been patiently and assiduously coached
by Kelson. He then proceeded to the second trick--"Eve at the Window," a trick
almost, if not quite, as famous as "The Brass Coffin," and for the
solution of which Martin and Davenport had frequently offered huge
sums of money. A large pane of glass some nine by six feet in area, and set in
a frame, made to represent that of a window, is placed on the
stage, about eighteen inches from the floor. Thirty-six inches
from the ground a wooden shelf is placed against the window. An
assistant--usually a woman--then mounts on the shelf and, looking out
of the glass, proceeds to kiss her hand vigorously. The operator in a
shocked voice asks her to desist. She refuses and, to the amusement of
the audience, carries on her pantomimic flirtation more desperately
than before. The operator pretends to lose his temper, and snatching
up a screen places it at the back of her. He then fires a pistol,
pulls aside the screen, and she has vanished. As the top, bottom and
sides of the window, all in fact except the very middle, have been in
full view of the audience, and as the window has been tightly closed
all the time, the disappearance of the girl completely mystifies the
audience. Curtis explained it all. He pointed out that the keynote to the
illusion lay behind the wooden shelf, which was so placed as to
conceal the fact that the lower part of the window was made double,
the bottom of the upper part being concealed from view by a second
sheet of silvered glass placed in front of it. The shelf covers the
line of junction and enables the window frame to be scrutinized by the
audience. As soon as the screen is put in front of the lady on the shelf--the
glass pane slides up about a foot and a half into the top of the
frame, purposely made very deep. The bottom of the window is cut away
in the middle, leaving an aperture about two feet square, which was
previously hidden from view by the double glass at the base. Eve makes
her exit through this hole, and slides on to a board placed behind the
window in readiness for her. The pane of glass then slides down again,
the screen is removed, and the window appears just as solid as before. When Curtis concluded his verbal explanation he gave the audience a
practical illustration of how the thing was done; he manipulated the
screen and pistol, whilst Hamar posed as Eve, and directly he had
finished there was another outburst of applause. Kelson dared not look
at John Martin or Gladys. The brief glance he had taken of them at the
conclusion of the giving away of the first trick had shocked him--and
he purposely stood with his back to them. With Hamar it was
otherwise--the joy of triumph was strong within him, and the picture
of John Martin, leaning forward in his chair, with his mouth half open
and a dazed, glassy expression in his eyes, only thrilled him with
pleasure; he laughed at the old man, and still more at Gladys. "That's the way to treat a girl of that sort," he whispered to Kelson;
"scoff at her--scoff at her well. Let her see you don't care a snap
for her--and in the end she'll run after you and haunt you to death." "I'm not so sure," Kelson said. "It might act in some cases, perhaps,
but I don't think you can quite depend on it." "Pooh! You are no judge of women, in spite of all your experience,"
Hamar retorted. "I'll bet you anything you like she'll come round and
make a tremendous fuss of me." "Supposing you fall in love with her, how about the compact?" Kelson
asked. "You've warned me often enough." "Oh, but I'm not like you," Hamar replied. "There's nothing soft in my
nature. I fall in love! Not much! Why, you might as well have
apprehensions of my joining the Salvation Army, or wanting to become a
Militant Suffragette--either would be just about as possible. No--! I
shall make the girl love me--and we shall be engaged for just as long
as I please. If I find some one that attracts me more, I shall throw
her aside--if not, maybe, I shall marry her--but in either case there
will be no question of love--at least not on my part. She shall do as
I want--that is all! Hulloa! Curtis is beginning again." There were five other tricks on the programme--all of which were world
renowned. They were "The Floating Head"; "The Mango Seed"; "The
Haunted Bathing-machine," "The Girl with the Five Eyes," and "The
Vanishing Bicycle" illusion. As with the first two tricks, so Curtis
did with the following five--he explained them, and then, aided by
Hamar and Kelson, gave practical demonstrations of their solutions;
and so thoroughly and clearly were these solutions demonstrated that
the referees asked no questions--they were absolutely satisfied. Turning to the audience--at a sign from Curtis--they announced that
the whole of Messrs. Martin and Davenport's tricks had been solved to
their entire satisfaction, and that Messrs. Hamar, Curtis and Kelson
of the Modern Sorcery Company Ltd. had, without doubt, won the wager. "Have you anything to say?" Curtis asked, addressing John Martin. "I acknowledge my defeat, though I do not understand it!" John Martin
said with very white lips. "I shall pay you the ten thousand pounds
to-night." "Don't worry about that," Hamar interposed; "we don't want to take
your money, all we wanted to do was to prove to you we could perform
the tricks you believed to be insoluble. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he went on, raising his voice, "the Modern
Sorcery Company Ltd. has given you some proof to-night of their
capabilities in the conjuring line, and if you will give us the
pleasure of your company to-morrow night--we invite you all free of
charge for the occasion--we will give you a still further
demonstration of our powers. May we count upon your patronage?" A terrific storm of clapping was the reply, and as the audience slowly
filed from the hall, John Martin staggered into the wing, reeled past
Gladys ere she could catch him, and sank helplessly on to the floor. CHAPTER XIII

THE MODERN SORCERY COMPANY LTD. GIVE A GRATIS PERFORMANCE


The days that followed were dark days for Gladys. Her father, whom she
loved--and, until now, had never realized how much she loved--lay
seriously ill.