Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

This trick is based upon a kind of double entendre, which, though apparently obvious, is rarely seen through by the audience if performed in a quick and lively manner. The secret lies in the performer interpreting the touching of the cards in two different senses, as may best suit his purpose. If the chosen card is not among the cards touched, he interprets the touching as meaning that the cards touched are rejected, and to be returned to the pack. If the card is among those touched, he interprets the touching in the opposite sense,--namely, that the cards touched are to be retained, and the others rejected. If he is lucky in the cards touched, it may happen that he is able to interpret the touching in the same sense throughout the trick, in which case there will be no clue whatever to the secret; but even in the opposite case, where he is compelled to put aside first the cards touched and then the cards not touched, the difference generally passes unnoticed by the spectators, or, if noticed, is put down as a slip on the part of the performer, rather than as being, as it really is, the key to the trick. Where the performer is proficient in sleight-of-hand, the above may be worked up into a really brilliant trick. Any indifferent card being drawn and returned, is brought to the top by the pass, palmed, and the pack shuffled. Eight cards are laid out, and the drawn card revealed as above.