The blonde looked at me, eyebrows raising.
"What gives, mastermind?"
This was the act I had in mind for Horatio. Mystiffio was a fair magician and his line of patter wasn't bad. The blonde, whose name was Alice, acted as a prop, and with her looks and Mystiffio's line they didn't do badly. But with Horatio in the act it would be tremendous.
He would blend perfectly into the stage background. Invisible, he could assist Mystiffio with the hocus-pocus and really produce some wonderful effects.
Alice was still looking at me as if I'd gone batty.
"Just trust Uncle," I said hastily. "I got a great new angle for your act."
"You act as if you've been out in the sun too long," Alice murmured. "But don't mind me."
With a weary sigh she sank into the brown leather chair. And one-tenth of a second later she leaped to her feet with a scream. She wheeled about, hand raised to slap, and then as she stared at the seemingly empty chair, an expression of wonderment stole over her pretty face.
"Oh!" she screamed, and leaped from the chair