ecided I'd get rid of her. She
wouldn't be hard to replace. Horatio was my gold mine and I didn't
want anyone to do a scorched-earth job on him.

"But she never told me," he muttered.

"Naturally," I said. "She'll probably even deny she's married to him
now, but don't let that fool you."

"No, sir," Horatio said. "She won't make a sucker out of me." His
anger must have subconsciously affected his visibility mechanism for
he was visible and his lean jaw was hard, but there was a hurt look in
his clear blue eyes.

"That's the boy," I said. "Just remember who your friends are and you
won't go wrong."

"I won't, Mr. Flannigan," he promised solemnly.

* * * * *

The next afternoon Morry arrived to see the act. He was dressed in a
natty pin stripe suit and he wore a big yellow carnation in the
buttonhole, but his sallow face was impassive.

I escorted him down the dark empty theatre to the front row.

"Just hold your breath now," I told him. "I'll have the act on stage
in a jiffy."

He yawned and glanced at his watch.

"I haven't got long," he said.

I went backstage and found Alice.

"Hurry up," I said. "Morry is waiting."

She looked at me as if I'd just crawled out from the wainscoating.
"I've just talked to the kid," she said. "He thinks I'm poison. What
kind of a yarn have you been feeding him?"

"Me? Why, honey, that hurts. Do you think your Uncle Patrick would
breathe an unkind word about you?"

"Well, it's mighty strange," she said. "He won't even tell me what's
biting him."

"I wouldn't pay any attention to him," I said. "Perhaps it's all for
the best."

"Hmmm," she said, eyeing me shrewdly.

"Come on now, be a good kid and get things rolling. A lot depends on
this you know."

I went back and joined Morry.

Well the act was terrific. Mystiffio had Morry's eyes sticking out
inside of thirty seconds. I hadn't told Morry about Horatio. I figured
I'd let that angle ride for a while.

But Morry was really impressed.

"The guy is good," he said. "The things he does don't seem humanly
possible."

Of course he didn't know that most of the effects were being created
by the invisible Horatio but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
And he didn't miss Alice, either. When she came on stage in her cute,
abbreviated little costume, he straightened up and opened his eyes.

"The kid is nice," he murmured.

"Are we in?" I demanded.

"Can't say yet. I gotta talk t