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.