Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

After having received this answer for the last time, you “change” the card by the first method (see page 28) for the top card. You now have the card a (the one drawn several times) in your hand, while b has become the top card, and c, which you have just exhibited, is at the bottom. You continue, before showing a, “You are all agreed that this is not your card; you had better not be too sure. I will ask you one by one. You, sir,” addressing the first drawer, “are you quite sure this is not your card?” He is obliged to own that it now is his card. “Pardon me,” you say, breathing gently on the back of the card, “it may have been so a moment ago, but now it is this lady’s,” exhibiting it to the second drawer, who also acknowledges it as her card. To the third person you say, “I think you drew a card, did you not? May I ask you to blow upon the back of this card! It has changed again, you see, for now it is your card.” The card having been again recognized, you continue, “There was no one else, I think,” at the same moment again making the change by the first method, so that a is now at bottom and b in your hand. The person who drew b will, no doubt, remind you that you have not yet shown him his card. You profess to have quite forgotten him, and, feigning to be a little embarrassed, ask what his card was. He names it accordingly, upon which you ask him to blow upon the card you hold, and, turning it over, show that it has now turned into that card. Then again making the change, you remark, “Everybody has certainly had his card now.” Then, yourself blowing upon the card you hold, which is now an indifferent one, you show it, and remark, “You observe that now it is nobody’s card.”