Others, more bold in their manœuvres, do not fear to execute this trick before the very eyes of their adversaries.
To do this with ease, pockets are made in the waistcoat, and are called costières, or side pockets,[J] because they are made at the left side, a little above the region of the heart. They are entirely hidden by the coat.
1st. In seating himself at the table, the Greek artfully draws out of one of his pockets the prepared cards, and holds them in readiness in his right hand, as I have before described in the chapter on the "Abstraction of Cards."
2nd. He then, with his left hand, takes up the pack which is on the table, as if to withdraw it from its envelope, and places his own pack on the top, carefully hiding both packs with his right hand.
3rd. He manages, in cutting, to put the false pack at the top, and removes the other, in the manner already related in the chapter on "Abstraction."
4th. Finally, he disposes of the original pack in his large pocket, or profonde.
To accomplish this feat with greater facility, he pretends to draw his chair nearer to the table, which brings his hand in juxtaposition with his pocket.
All the operations above described, may be regarded as one, and are performed with infinite address and promptitude, whilst the Greek is entertaining his adversary with some animated and amusing discourse.
It is needless to say, that the two envelopes of the cards are identical, the Greek of course having seen to that beforehand.