Arrange the cards of a pack so as to name them all according to their
positions after several changes. This is done in various ways, as
explained in _The Secret Out_ and the last few pages.
After the pack has been cut by different persons spread it out on the
table and ask one of the company to select a card quite at random. Take
up the pack, and in doing so divide it into two parcels, and place the
one which preceded the drawn card below the other.
While pretending that you wish to convince the audience that the cards
are of different suits, hold the pack in such a position that your
accomplice in the next room can see which is the last card. Knowing,
then, that the following one is the drawn card, he writes the name or
draws the figure of it in black on a transparent screen in the adjoining
room.
This screen is to be placed within an aperture in the wall, on
withdrawing a curtain to which, the person who selected the card has but
to look in to see the writing or picture of it “staring him in the
face.”
The inner room should be quite dark, so that nothing but the writing is
perceived.