This trick should be performed with considerable quickness and vivacity, so as not to give the audience much time for thought as you name the cards. It is further necessary that the spectators be well in front of you, and so placed that they cannot see the faces of the cards as you pick them up.
To allow a Person secretly to think of a Card, and dividing the Pack into three heaps, to cause the Card thought of to appear in whichever heap the Company may choose.—Hand the pack to the company, with a request that they will well shuffle it. When it is returned, cut the pack into three heaps on the table, and invite some one to secretly think of a card. When he has done so, say boldly, “The card you have thought of is in this heap,” touching one of them—say the middle one. “Will you be kind enough to name it?” The person names, say, the queen of spades. You continue, “Your card, as I have already told you, is in this centre heap. To satisfy you that it is so, and that I do not now place it there by means of any sleight-of-hand, I will, in the first place, show you that it is not in either of the other heaps.” Gathering together the two heaps in question, and turning them face upwards, you come forward to the audience, rapidly spreading and running over the cards the while in order to ascertain whether the queen of spades is among them. If it is not, the trick has so far succeeded without any trouble on your part; and, after showing that the card is not among those you hold, you bring forward the remaining packet, and show that you were correct in your assertion. You then say, “I do not generally repeat a trick, but on this occasion, as you may possibly imagine that my success was a mere result of accident, I will perform the trick once more, and, if you please, you shall yourselves name beforehand the packet in which the card thought of shall appear.” The packet having been chosen, you join the other two in your left hand, and invite some one to think of a card. When he has done so, you come forward, as before, to show that it is not among the cards you hold. Luck may again favour you; but if not, and you see the card chosen among those you hold in your hand, you quickly draw it, by a rapid movement of the second finger of the right hand, behind the rest of the pack, and, continuing your examination, show the company, to all appearance, that the card is not there. Having done this, you again turn the pack over (when the card thought of will be on the top), and, covering the pack for a moment with the right hand, palm that card. Then, picking up with the same hand the heap remaining on the table, you place the palmed card on the top, and, transferring the cards to the left hand, you say, “You are welcome to watch me as closely as you please. You will find that I shall cut these cards at the precise card you thought of.” To all appearance you merely cut the cards, but really at the same moment make the pass (by lifting away the lower instead of the upper half of the packet). The upper part of the packet, with the card on the top, remains in the left hand. You request some one to look at the top card, which is found to be the card thought of.
Should the card in the first instance prove to be among the non-designated cards, you will proceed as last directed; but do not in this case repeat the trick.
To allow a Person secretly to think of a Card, and, even before such Card is named, to select it from the Pack, and place it singly upon the Table.—This trick is on the same principle, and performed in a great measure by the same means, as that last described. You invite a person to think of a card (without naming it). When he has done so, you offer the pack to another person to shuffle, and finally to a third person to cut. Then, selecting any one card from the pack, you walk to your table, and, without showing what it is, place it face downwards on the table, retaining the rest of the pack in your left hand. Then, addressing the person who was requested to think of a card, you say, “The card which I have just placed on the table is the one you thought of. Will you be good enough to name it?” We will suppose that the card thought of was the ace of spades. You say, as in the last trick, “Allow me to show you, in the first place, that the ace of spades is no longer in the pack.” Coming forward to the audience, and rapidly running over the cards, you catch sight of the ace of spades, and slip it behind the rest. Having shown that it is, apparently, not in the pack, you turn the cards over (when the ace will, of course, be on the top), and palm it. Leaving the pack with the audience, you advance to your table, and pick up the card on the table with the same hand in which the ace of spades is already palmed. Draw away the card towards the back of the table, and, as it reaches the edge, drop it on the servante, and produce the ace of spades as being the card just picked up. The trick requires a little practice, but, if well executed, the illusion is perfect.
The above directions are framed upon the assumption that you are performing with a proper conjuror’s table, which, as already stated, has a servante, or hidden shelf, at the back for the reception of objects which the performer may require to pick up or lay down without the knowledge of his audience. The trick may, however, be performed without the aid of such a table, but will, in such case, require some little variation.
If you are using an ordinary table, the most effective mode of finishing the trick is as follows:—Walk boldly to the table, and pick up with the right hand (in which the card actually thought of is palmed) the card lying on the table, and, without looking at it yourself, hold it towards your audience, remarking, “Here it is, you see, the ace of spades.” The card being, in truth, a totally different one (say the seven of diamonds), the audience naturally imagine that the trick has broken down, and a derisive murmur apprises you of the fact. You thereupon glance at the card, and affect some little surprise and embarrassment on finding that it is a wrong one. However, after a moment’s pause, you say, taking the card face downwards between the thumb and second finger of the left hand, “Well, I really don’t know how the mistake could have occurred. However, I can easily correct it.” Change the card by the fifth method (see page 32), and, after a little byplay to heighten the effect of the transformation, again show the card, which this time proves to be the right one. The audience will readily conclude that the supposed mistake was really a feint, designed to heighten the effect of the trick.
A Card having been Secretly Thought of by one of the Audience, to place two Indifferent Cards upon the table, and to Change such one of them as the Audience may select into the Card thought of.—Arrange your pack beforehand in such manner that among the fifteen or sixteen undermost cards there may be only one court card, and note at what number from the bottom this card is. Advance to the company, offering the cards face downwards in the ordinary way, and requesting some person to draw a card. Then, as if upon a second thought, say, before he has time to draw, “Or, if you prefer it, you need not even touch the cards, but merely think of one as I spread them before you.” So saying, spread the cards one by one, with their faces to the company, beginning at the bottom. The single court card being conspicuous among so many plain cards, and there being nothing apparently to create a suspicion of design about the arrangement it is ten to one that the person will note that particular card, which we will suppose to be the knave of hearts. When you have run over twelve or fourteen cards in this way, ask, still moving on the cards, “Have you thought of a card?” On receiving an answer in the affirmative, you make the pass two cards below the court card (which you know by the number at which it stands), and forthwith make a false shuffle, leaving the last three cards undisturbed, so that the court card remains third from the bottom. Turning to the audience, you remark, “I will now take the two bottom cards, whatever they may happen to be, and lay them on the table.” Then, holding up the pack in the left hand, with the bottom card towards the audience, you inquire, “That is not your card, sir, I suppose? nor that?” each time lowering the cards in order to draw away with the moistened finger of the right hand, and place face downwards on the table, the card just shown. The second time, however, you do not really draw the card you have shown, but draw back that card and take the one next to it—viz., the knave of hearts. You then, standing behind your table and facing the audience, again repeat the question, “You are quite sure, sir, that neither of these two cards is the card you thought of? Which of