'But you agree to the first?'
'Yes, I do,' said the doctor boldly.
'How do you prove it?'
'There is no need to prove it; I answer because you question me. Besides, now I remember, Don Pasqualino was beaten by two gamblers, enraged because they did not get the right lottery numbers. He told you it was the spirit Caracò.'
'It was all a pretence, the gamblers beating him, so as to keep the spirit's secret.'
'But the two that assaulted him were arrested and confronted with him at the hospital; they had to spend a month in prison.'
'Is that true, Don Pasqualino?' the Marquis asked severely.
The medium looked distressed, as if it were impossible for him to defend himself against an unjust accusation. But the doctor was offended at that request for confirmation.
'My lord,' he said solemnly, 'I am too serious a man and take too little interest to care to go into the business with that fellow. If you have any esteem for me, I beg you to spare me further discussion.'
'All right—very good,' the Marquis said at once, his proud spirit being open to any appeal to good feeling. 'Let us have no more of it; discussions between sceptics and believers can only be unpleasant. Let us go away, Don Pasqualino; perhaps the doctor will do you justice some day. Let us go; I see Bianca Maria is pained also. You must convince the doctor, my dear,' the father added rather maliciously.