Banneker thought to read a
haunting fear in his eyes, and was cogitating upon what it might
portend, when his attention was distracted by Ely Ives, who had been
requested (as he announced) to exhibit his small skill at some minor
sleight-of-hand tricks. The skill, far from justifying its possessor's
modest estimate, was so unusual as to provoke expressions of admiration
from Mr. Stecklin, the lawyer on Banneker's right.
"Oh, yes; hypnotism too," said Ely Ives briskly, after twenty minutes of
legerdemain. "Child's play."
"Now, who suggested hypnotism?" murmured Stecklin in his limpid and
confidential undertone, close to Banneker's ear. "You? I? No! No one,
_I_ think."
So Banneker thought, and was the more interested in Ives's procedure.
Though the drinking had been heavy at his end of the table, he seemed
quite unaffected, was now tripping from man to man, peering into the
eyes of each, "to find an appropriate subject," as he said. Delavan Eyre
roused himself out of a semi-torpor as the wiry little prowler stared
down at him.
"What's the special idea?" he demanded.
"Just a bit of mesmerism," explained the other. "I'll try you for a
subject. If you'll stand up, feet apart, eyes closed, I'll hypnotize you
so that you'll fall over at a movement.
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