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, whi