Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

A thrill of horror runs through the audience, who are half inclined to call in the police, and hand over the professor to the nearest magistrate. For a moment there is a pause, and then the performer, calmly wiping the bloody sword on a white pocket-handkerchief, says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I fear you imagine that I have hurt the lady who was the subject of this experiment. Pray disabuse yourselves of such an idea. She had disobeyed me, and I therefore determined to punish her by giving her a little fright; but nothing more. The fact is, she had left the basket some time before I thrust the sword into it. You don’t believe me, I see. Allow me to show you, in the first place, that the basket is empty.” He turns over the basket accordingly, and shows that the lady has vanished. “Should you desire further proof, the lady will answer for herself.” The lady at this moment comes forward from a different portion of the room, and having made her bow, retires.