works is not
the borrowed one, but one which you have had concealed between the third
and fourth fingers of the left hand. You show the empty case of this
watch to the company, before wrapping the watch in the handkerchief
and handing it back to its owner. Meanwhile with the aid of a little wax
you have attached an invisible hair to the handkerchief, the other end of
it being fastened to the palm of your left hand. With a little practice
it is not difficult to withdraw the handkerchief, by a series of trifling
jerks, from, the pocket of your fellow-guest to its resting place between
the first and second finger of your left hand.

One word more. I am afraid that the borrowed handkerchief to which you
applied the match really did get burnt, and you will probably have to
offer the owner one of your own instead. That is the only weak spot in
one of the most baffling tricks ever practised by the amateur
prestidigitator (to use the word for the last time). It will make a
fitting climax to your evening's entertainment--an entertainment which
will ensure you another warm invitation next year when the "festive
season" (_copyright_) comes upon us once again.

VII. AND OTHERS

MY FILM SCENARIO

[Specially written for Economic Pictures, Limited, whose Manager
has had the good fortune to pick up for a mere song (or, to be more
accurate, for a few notes) several thousand miles of discarded cinema
films from a bankrupt company. The films comprise the well-known
"Baresark Basil, the Pride of the Ranch" (two miles long), "The Foiler
Foiled" (one mile, three furlongs, two rods, poles or perches), "The
Blood-stained Vest" (fragment--eighteen inches), "A Maniac's Revenge"
(5,000 feet), "The Life of the Common Mosquito" (six legs), and so
forth.]

Twenty-five years before our film opens, Andrew Bellingham, a young man
just about to enter his father's business, was spending a holiday in a
little fishing village in Cornwall. The daughter of the sheep-farmer
with whom he lodged was a girl of singular beauty, and Andrew's youthful
blood was quickly stirred to admiration. Carried away by his passion for
her, he--

[MANAGER. _Just a reminder that Mr. T.P. O'Connor has to pass this before
it can be produced_.]--he married her--

[MANAGER. _Oh, I beg pardon_.]--and for some weeks they lived happily
together. One day he informed Jessie that he would have to go back to his
work in London, and that it might be a year or more befor