sentences:  On Halloween, Harry and Bess attend a special magicians' dinner at the Hotel Astor, during which magician Fante offers a prize to anyone who can free himself from a straitjacket.Harry accepts the challenge and, through intense concentration, extricates himself from the jacket, greatly impressing Fante.Afterward, however, Fante advises Harry to "drop it," noting that Johann Von Schweger, a German magician, retired at the height of his career after performing a similar feat, fearful of his own talents.