"I am waiting till you give us the counterpart," the count replied, "before I offer my opinion about it."
The adventurer gave him a clear and piercing glance.
"Then," he said, "you fancy this is not all?"
"Every story," the count retorted, "is composed of two distinct parts."
"That is to say?"
"The true part, and the false."
"Will you explain yourself?"
"Willingly: the false part is that which is public, which everybody knows, and can comment on and repeat as he likes."
"Good," he said, with a slight inclination of the head; "and the true part?"
"That is the secret, the mysterious part, only known to two or three persons at the most—the sheepskin removed from the wolfs shoulders."