"I have come at your call, but I declare that I do not know what to reply to this strange communication. You believe that you recognize in me the man who drew the curtains."
"I recognize you."
"Then what do you wish me to say? It is not a consultation that you ask of me?"
She believed she understood the meaning of this reply and divined its end.
"The question does not concern me," she said, "neither my moral nor mental state, but yourself. My eyes, my memory, my conscience, bring a frightful accusation against you. I cannot believe my eyes or my memory. I challenge my conscience, and I ask you to reduce this accusation to nothing."
"And how, Madame?"
"Oh, not by protestations!"
"How can you expect that a man in my position will lower himself to discuss accusations that rest on an hallucination?"
"Do you believe that I have hallucinations? If you do, call one of your 'confreres' to-morrow in consultation. If he believes as you do, I will submit; if not, I shall be convinced that I saw clearly, and I shall act accordingly."
"If you saw clearly, Madame, and I am ready to concede this to you, it proves that there is some one somewhere who is my double."