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Eeneral rule, ever allow a look of relief to cross his face Had one done so, it would have argued a prior feeling of uncertainty or apprehension, sensations he ht feel but would certainly never admit to

This time, however, the relief was unmistakable It was monthly banquet time for the Black Widowers; Rubin was the host, and it was he as supplying the guest; and here it was about twenty minutes after seven and only noith but ten minutes left before the banquet was to start - only now did his guest arrive

Rubin bounded toward him, careful, however, not to spill a drop of his second drink

"Gentleuest, the A Larri - spelled L - A - R - R - I" And in a lowered voice, over the hum of pleased - to - meet - yous, "Where the hell were you?"

Larri muttered, "The subway train stalled" Then returned ss

"Pardon me," said Henry, the perennial - and nonpareil - waiter at the Black Widower banquets, "but there is not ins Would you state your preference, sir?"

"A good notion, that," said Larri, gratefully "Thank you, waiter, and let me have a dry martini, but not too darned dry - a little damp, so to speak"

"Certainly, sir," said Henry

Rubin said, "I&039;ve told you, Larri, that we members all have our ex officio doctorates, so now let entleht back is Dr Geoffrey Avalon He&039;s a lawyer and he never smiles The last time he tried, he was fined for contempt of court"

Avalon smiled as broadly as he could and said, "You undoubtedly know Manny well enough, sir, not to take him seriously"

"Undoubtedly," said Larri As he and Rubin stood together, they looked reht - about five feet, five - both had active, inquisitive faces, both had straggly beards, though Larri&039;s was longer and was accoe of hair down either side of his face as well

Rubin said, "And here, dressed fit to kill anyone with a real taste for clothing, is our scribble expert Dr Mario Gonzalo, ill insist on producing a caricature of you in which he will claier Halsted inflicts pain on junior - high students under the guise of teaching them what little he knows of mathematics Dr James Drake is a superannuated che him a PhD And finally Dr Thoovernment in an unna Congress doesn&039;t find out"

"Manny," said Trumbull wearily, "if it were possible to cast a retroactive blackball, I think you could count on five"

And Henry said, "Gentlemen, dinner is served"

It was one of those rare Black Widower occasions when the entree was lobster, rarer now than ever because of the increase in prices

Rubin, who as host bore the cost, shrugged it off "I ood paperback sale last month and we can call this a celebration"

"We can celebrate," said Avalon, "but lobster tends to kill conversation The cracking of claws and shells, the extraction ofin melted butter, takes one&039;s full concentration"&039; And he gri into the compression of the nutcracker

"In that case," said the A Larri, "I shall have a rinned with satisfaction as a large platter of prime - rib roast was dexterously placed before hiic to seafood," said Rubin

Conversation was indeed subdued as Avalon had predicted until the various lobsters had been clearly worsted in culinary battle, and then, finally, Halsted asked, "What e naitator, an escapist extraordinaire, and the greatest living exposeur"

Trues on his bronzed forehead "What the devil do you mean by exposeur?"

Rubin beat a tattoo on his water glass at this point and said, "No grilling till we&039;ve had our coffee"

"For God&039;s sake," said Tru the definition of a word"

"Host&039;s decision is final," said Rubin

Trumbull scowled blackly in Rubin&039;s direction "Then I&039;ll guess the answer An exposeur is one who exposes fakes; people who, using trickery of one sort or another, pretend to produce effects they attribute to supernatural or paranatural forces"

Larri thrust out his lower lip, raised his eyebrows, and nodded his head "Pretty good for a guess I couldn&039;t have put it better"

Gonzalo said, "You ic, you could do by stage ic"

"Exactly," said Larri "For instance, suppose that some mystic claimed he had the capacity to bend spoons bynatural force, this way" He lifted his spoon and, holding it by its two ends, he bent it half an inch out of true

Trumbull said, &039;That scarcely counts Anyone can do it that way"

"Ah," said Larri, "but this spoon you saweffect at all That spoon you atching merely served to trap and focus the ethereal rays that did the real work Those rays acted to bend your spoon Dr Trumbull"

Trumbull looked down and picked up his spoon, which was bent nearly at right angles "How did you do this?"

Larri shrugged "Would you believe ethereal forces?"

Drake laughed and, pushing his disarette He said, "Larri did it a few "

Larri seelass Dr Trumbull, you looked away I had rather hoped you all would"

Drake said, "I know better than to pay attention to Manny"

"But," said Larri, "if no one had seen me do it, would you have accepted the ethereal forces?"

"Not a chance," said Trumbull

"Even if there had been no way in which you could explain the effect? Here, letSuppose you wanted to flip a coin"

He fell silent for a moment while Henry passed out the strawberry shortcake, pushed his own out of the way, and said, "Suppose you wanted to flip a coin, without actually lifting it and turning it - this penny, for instance There are a number of ways it could be done The simplest would lie sier is always slightly sticky, especially so at er is removed and can be ain and it is heads"

Gonzalo said, "No prestidigitation there, though We see it flip"

"Exactly," said Larri, "and that&039;s why I won&039;t do it that way Let&039;s put so over it so that it can&039;t be touched or flipped Suppose we use a" He looked about the table for a moment and seized a salt shaker "Suppose we use this" He placed the salt shaker over the coin and said, "Now it is showing heads?"

"Hold on," said Gonzalo "Hoe know it&039;s showing heads? It could be tails and then, when you reveal it later, you&039;ll say it flipped, when it was tails all along"

"You&039;re perfectly right," said Larri, "and I&039;ot eyes that caught me before Would you check this on behalf of the assembled company? I&039;ll lift the salt shaker and you tell me what the coin shows"

Drake looked and said, "Heads!" in his softly hoarse voice

"You&039;ll all take Dr Drake&039;s word, I hope, gentlemen? Please, watch me place the salt shaker back on the coin and make sure it doesn&039;t flip in the process"

"It didn&039;t," said Drake

"Now to keepthis trick, I will put this paper napkin over the salt shaker"

Larri molded the paper napkin neatly and carefully over the salt shaker, then said, "But, inthis napkin, I caused you all to divert your attention from the penny and you may think I have flipped it in the process" He lifted the salt shaker with the paper about it and said, "Dr Drake, will you check the coin again?"

Drake leaned toward it "Still heads," he said

Very carefully and gently, Larri put back the salt shaker, the paper napkin still molded about it, and said, &039;The coin remained as is?"

"Still heads," said Drake

"In that case, I now perforic" Larri pushed down on the salt shaker, and the paper collapsed There was nothing inside

There was a moment of shock, and then Gonzalo said, "Where&039;s the salt shaker?"

"In another plane of existence," said Larri airily

"But you said you were going to flip the coin"

"I lied"

Avalon said, &039;There&039;s noon the coin as a diversion tactic When he picked up the salt shaker with the napkin around it to let Jim look at the coin, he just dropped the salt shaker into his hand and placed the empty, molded napkin over the coin"

"Did you see me do that, Dr Avalon?" asked Larri

"No I was looking at the coin, too"

"Then you&039;re just guessing," said Larri

Rubin, who had not participated in the demonstration at all, but who had eaten his strawberry shortcake instead and noaited for the others to catch up, said, "The tendency is to argue these things out logically and that&039;s impossible Scientists and other rationalists are used to dealing with the universe, which fights fair Faced with a mystic who does not, they find the nonsense and, in the end, icians, on the other hand," Rubin went on, "knohat to watch for, are experienced enough not to be misdirected, and are not impressed by the apparently supernatural That&039;s why icians are in the audience"

Coffee had been served and was being sipped at, and Henry was quietly preparing the brandy, when Rubin sounded the water glass and said, "Gentle you idiots have left anything to grill Geoff, will you do the honors today?"

Avalon cleared his throat portentously and frowned down upon the A his voice in the deepest of its naturally deep register, Avalon said, "It is custouests to justify their existences, but if today&039;s guest exposes phony mystics even now and then, I, for one, consider his existence justified and will pass on

"The temptation is to ask you how you perforo, but I quite understand that the ethics of your profession preclude your telling us Even though everything said here is considered under the rose, and though nothing has ever leaked, I will refrain from such questions

"Let me instead, then, ask after your failures Sir, you describe yourself as an exposeur Have there been any supposedly mystical deitous manner and have not been able to account for by natural means?"

Larri said, "I have not attempted to explain all the effects I have ever encountered or heard of, but where I have studied an effect and made an attempt to duplicate it, I have succeeded in every case"

"No failures?"

"None!"

Avalon considered that, but as he prepared for the next question, Gonzalo broke in His head was leaning on one palers of that hand were carefully disposed in such a way as not to disarray his hair He said, "Noait, Larri, would it be right to suggest that you tackled only easy cases? The really puzzling cases you ht have made no attempts on"

"You ht spoil ht upset my belief in the rational order of the universe? If so, you&039;re quite wrong, Dr Gonzalo Most reports of apparent mystical powers are dull and uninore those The cases I do take on are precisely the puzzling ones that have attracted attention because of their unusual nature and their apparent divorce from the rational So you see, the ones I take on are precisely those you suspect I avoid"

Gonzalo subsided and Avalon said, "Larri, the itation doesn&039;t mean that it couldn&039;t have been perforh supernatural s can build machines that fly doesn&039;t mean that birds are ht," said Larri, "but mystics lay their claims to supernatural powers on the notion, either expressed or i the effect If I show that the same effect can be produced by natural means, the burden of proof then shifts to them to show that the effect can be produced after the natural means I have used are made impossible I don&039;t know of any icians to guard against trickery and who then succeeded"

"And nothing has ever puzzled you? Not even the tricks other icians have developed?"

"Oh yes, there are effects produced by soicians that puzzle me in the sense that I don&039;t know quite how they do it Ia differentas an effect is produced by natural means, it doesn&039;t matter whether I can reproduce it or not I aician than any h forehead flushed with anxiety, and stuttering slightly in his eagerness to speak, said, "But then nothing would startle you? No disappearance like that you carried through on the salt shaker?"

"YouThere was a salt shaker in the middle of the table, but no one had seen it placed there

Halsted, thrown off a moment, recovered and said, "Have you ever been startled by any disappearance? I heard once that icians haveelephants disappear is childishly si about disappearances in a ic act" And then a peculiar look crossed Larri&039;s face, a flash of sadness and frustration "Not in a ic act Just"

"Yes?" said Halsted "Just what?"

"Just in real life," said Larri, shtheartedly

"Just a minute," said Trumbull, "but we don&039;t let that pass If there has been a disappearance in real life you can&039;t explain, ant to hear about it"

Larri shook his head, "No, no, Dr Trumbull It is not alike that at all I just lost - so, and can&039;t find it and it - saddens me"

"The details," said Trumbull"

"It wouldn&039;t be worth it," said Larri "It&039;s a - silly story and somewhat" He fell into silence

"Goddamn it," thundered Tru anything thattempted to violate your ethics Would it violate the ethics of the ician&039;s art for you to tell this story?"

"It&039;s not that at all"

"Well, then, sir, I repeat what Geoff has told you Everything said here is in confidence and the agree these monthly dinners is that all questions ed "That&039;s the way it is, Larri If you don&039;t want to answer the question, we&039;ll have to declare theat an end"

Larri sat back in his chair and looked depressed "I can&039;t very well allow that to happen, considering the fine hospitality I&039;ve been shown I will tell you the story and you&039;ll find there&039;s nothing to it I met a woman quite accidentally; I lost touch with her; I can&039;t locate her That&039;s all there is"

"No," said Trumbull, "that&039;s not all there is Where and how did you meet her? Where and how did you lose touch with her? Why can&039;t you find her again? We want to know the details"

Gonzalo said, "In tact, if you tell us the details, we hed sardonically, "I think not"

"You&039;d be surprised," said Gonzalo "In the past"