Royal Road to Card Magic The

the two cards rapidly apart, saying, 'I didn't ask you to
blow
. You've made two!' Drop them on the first ace without showing their faces.
    11. Spread the cards and ask the spectator to remove one. 'Show it to everyone,' and, as he does so, palm the top card in your right hand and take the deck in that hand. 'What card did you take? The ten of diamonds,' you say, taking it face downwards in your left hand. Lay the pack down and take the card in your right hand, adding the palmed ace to it. Hold the card(s) up by the ends showing it (them), and place it (them) in your left hand, face outwards, the thumb on the face and the fingers on the back (figure 128).

    'I shall change this card into one of your aces. Would you like me to do it visibly or invisibly? Visibly? Very well, I pass my hand over the cards, so [pass your empty right hand across the card], and nothing happens. I pass it over again [this time push the rear card with the left fingers into the right hand and palm it] and again nothing happens.' Change the grip of the card in your left hand so that it is held between the thumb on one side and the middle finger on the other, with the forefinger resting on the middle of the top end (figure 129). 'This is the critical time. Watch!' Pass the right hand over the card and deposit the palmed card on it without pausing a moment. The tips of the fingers and thumb make a frame into which it fits snugly.

    'One ace!' you exclaim. Pick up the other three one by one, placing them in the left hand fanwise and saying, 'Two! Three! All four! Will you look at your four cards and see what I have sent you? Show them to everybody.'
    The spectator turns his four cards and shows four indifferent cards. Take this opportunity to slip the indifferent card from the back of the four aces in your right hand on the deck, which you have picked up with your left hand. Pause while you display the four aces, and acknowledge the applause as if the trick was ended.
    12. Casually place the aces on the top of the pack and immediately palm them in your right hand, taking the pack in that hand. Then say to the spectator, 'You did that very nicely. I'd like you to try another trick before I put the deck away.' Pick up the card case with your left hand, put the pack down with your right hand, and take the case in that hand. 'Place your hand on the deck. Right. Now I shall make the aces pass up your sleeve into one of your pockets.
Pass!
Did you feel them go? No? Well, run through the deck. No aces? Then kindly search your pockets.' As he does this, take the pack, adding the palmed aces to it, and place it in the case.
    The spectator finally unbuttons his jacket and much to his surprise finds the four aces in his breast pocket. The duplicate aces were placed in his pocket so long before that no one remembers that you even so much as touched them.
    Not only is this trick a most effective one, but it also affords ample opportunities for inoffensive fun which the assisting spectator will enjoy as much as the audience.
    Ladies' Looking Glass
    This fanciful title was given to the feat by its inventor, Comte, a famous French magician who flourished in the early years of the 19th Century. The trick is one of the great card tricks, and we have retained the title but somewhat modified the procedure.
    Four spectators each remove a pair of cards from the deck, which are then replaced and the deck shuffled. Three of the pairs appear in rapid succession at the top and bottom of the deck, and the magician tosses the cards into the air and catches the last pair at the tips of his fingers.
    You will need a deck of cards and eight duplicate cards. Since these cards must be memorised, it is well to take eight cards of some known arrangement, for example, the first eight cards of what is known as the Nikola system. These are:

    Place these eight cards on the top of the deck in that order. Take any indifferent card from the deck, place it on top of the duplicate set of eight cards - which are in the same order - and place the packet of nine cards in your right trouser-pocket, with the backs outermost.
    Present the trick as follows.
    1. 'Many years ago,' you begin, 'when I was a boy, I saw a famous magician do a feat with cards, which was so extraordinary that I have puzzled over it ever since and have never been able to find a solution to it. I shall show you what he did, and perhaps some of you may be able to suggest an answer to the problem.'
    2. 'First, he had a