“You said you first used it at forty years of age——”
“Yes, madame.”
“And that since that time, that is, since the siege of Troy——”
“A little before, madame.”
“That you have always remained forty years old?”
“You see me now.”
“But then, sir,” said De Condorcet, “you argue, not only the perpetuation of youth, but the preservation of life; for if since the siege of Troy you have been always forty, you have never died.”
“True, marquis, I have never died.”
“But are you, then, invulnerable, like Achilles, or still more so, for Achilles was killed by the arrow of Paris?”
“No. I am not invulnerable, and there is my great regret,” said Cagliostro.