"May I be blunt—and personal?"
"Please do. I'm not at all sensitive."
"Basically, then, Doctor Allison, a person as contained and repressed as yourself usually has a clearly defined subsidiary personality. In neurotic individuals this complex of personality traits sometimes splits off, and we get a syndrome known as multiple, or alternate personality."
"I've scanned a few of the classic cases. Wasn't there a woman with four separate personalities?"
"Exactly. However, you aren't neurotic, and ordinarily there would not be the slightest chance of your repressed alternate taking over your personality."
"Thank you," Jay murmured ironically, "I'd be losing sleep over that."
"Nevertheless I presume you do have such a subsidiary personality, although he would normally never manifest. This subsidiary—let's call him Jay2—would embody all the characteristics which you repress. He would be gregarious, where you are retiring and studious; adventurous where you are cautious; talkative while you are taciturn; he would perhaps enjoy action for its own sake, while you exercise faithfully in the gymnasium only for your health's sake; and he might even remember the trailmen with pleasure rather than dislike."
"In short—a blend of all the undesirable characteristics?"
"One could put it that way. Certainly he would be a blend of all the characteristics which you, Jay1, consider undesirable. But—if released by hypnotism and suggestion, he might be suitable for the job in hand."
"But how do you know I actually have such an—alternate?"