“An inundation,” said La Pérouse.
“However, sir,” continued Madame Dubarry; “according to you, I have not needed so much, as a small bottle about four times the size of that you hold has been sufficient to arrest the march of time for ten years.”
“Just so, madame. And you alone approach this mysterious truth. The man who has already grown old needs this large quantity to produce an immediate and powerful effect; but a woman of thirty, as you were, or a man of forty, as I was, when I began to drink this elixir, still full of life and youth, needs but ten drops at each period of decay; and with these ten drops may eternally continue his life and youth at the same point.”
“What do you call the periods of decay?” asked Count Haga.
“The natural periods, count. In a state of nature, man’s strength increases until thirty-five years of age. It then remains stationary until forty; and from that time forward, it begins to diminish, but almost imperceptibly, until fifty; then the process becomes quicker and quicker to the day of his death. In our state of civilization, when the body is weakened by excess, cares, and maladies, the failure begins at thirty-five. The time, then, to take nature, is when she is stationary, so as to forestall the beginning of decay. He who, possessor as I am of the secret of this elixir, knows how to seize the happy moment, will live as I live; always young, or, at least, always young enough for what he has to do in the world.”
“Oh, M. Cagliostro,” cried the countess; “why, if you could choose your own age, did you not stop at twenty instead of at forty?”
“Because, madame,” said Cagliostro, smiling, “it suits me better to be a man of forty, still healthy and vigorous, than a raw youth of twenty.”
“Oh!” said the countess.
“Doubtless, madame,” continued Cagliostro, “at twenty one pleases women of thirty; at forty, we govern women of twenty, and men of sixty.”
“I yield, sir,” said the countess, “for you are a living proof of the truth of your own words.”