CHAPTER XXIV
Real Magic
Judy was glad when Helen Riker slipped into the seat Penny had left. She was just in time to hear the magician’s announcement that it would be real magic if he could make all the children’s wishes come true.
“Penny has wished for her father and now she sees a man exactly like him. Is that right?”
“Oh, yes!” Penny said. “I closed my eyes, and when I opened them there was my daddy again—”
“You see?” he interrupted. “If I’m not her real daddy, I must be his twin brother. At any rate, the little lady trusts me. Now watch as I make her disappear.”
Penny climbed up on the long table in front of the magician and waved good-bye to the audience. Her mother was watching as if she really expected a miracle. Turning to Judy, she said, “He isn’t going to use a screen. I’ve seen this trick before, but Paul would be different. He is like Philip—so like him it’s almost uncanny.”
“Penny’s gone!” cried Judy, but nobody heard her because at the same time exclamations of surprise went up from everyone else in the audience. The table top was empty. The magician had made the little girl vanish right before their eyes.
“That,” he announced, “was a trick which Penny herself will explain to you as soon as I bring her back. I have to say a few magic words first. They may be familiar to someone in the audience.”
And he began to chant, “Rama! Rama! Sita! Rama! Arise, daughter of Sita as lovely as a rose.”