“Pretty much. Handcuffs, escapes, all the same kind of thing. Doing okay at it too. Of course he’s not in my league yet.”

The brother who just arrived in town and who called himself Hardeen. I wondered if he now saw Houdini as a rival, maybe.

“Harry, I’ve just had the cleverest idea,” Bess said suddenly. “Molly wants to get back into show business. Why don’t you use her in the act, just until I’m on my feet again? I’m sure she’s a quick learner and we could teach her the simplest of the mind-reading tricks.”

Houdini looked at me critically, then burst out laughing. “You want to use her in the act? Are you crazy? Look at her.”

I didn’t find this very flattering, I can tell you. I may not be petite but I’m not ugly.

“What do you mean? She’d look fine in the right costume and makeup,” Bess said.

“But she’s too big. She’s as big as I am. There’s no way she could get into the trunk.”

“Of course not,” Bess said. “I’m not saying she could do the Metamorphosis. You could do that other stunt by yourself. You know, the one where they put the handcuffs on you and chain up the trunk? The one you did when I didn’t come along with you to Russia. The audience loves that one.”

“I suppose I could,” Harry admitted.

“And she could help you with the mind-reading tricks I do, and act as your assistant.”

“I could never teach her the signals in time.”

“I’m a fast learner,” I said, although I wasn’t sure this was true. “I could give it a try.”

“You do need an assistant, Harry,” Bess said. “You always say that it helps to have a pretty girl onstage for the audience to watch, so that they take their eyes off you.”

“She doesn’t have a costume, does she?” I could tell he was now fishing for excuses. He really didn’t want me but he was scared of crossing Bess. “She’d never fit into anything of yours.”

“That would be no problem, Mr. Houdini,” I said. “I have friends who know a good theatrical dressmaker. I’m sure he could make me something appropriate.”

He opened his mouth and tried to think of something else to say, then sighed.

“I know, but—someone who hasn’t been in the business? I’m the star performer, Bess. I don’t work with amateurs.”