“Then I deny them both,” he said. “I deny them utterly. I deny them to the utmost limit of my capacity,”

“But by denying one,” I said, “you affirm the other, and by denying the other you affirm the first.”

“Then I deny neither,” he said. “I deny neither of them. I deny neither of them to my last breath.”

“Then you affirm both?” I asked.

“Absolutely and entirely,” he said, “to the remotest follicle of my manhood.”

“But that leaves us,” I said, “just as we were.”

“Very likely,” he replied. “I don’t know.”

“But I don’t understand,” I said.

“Nor do I,” he said.

We stood staring at one another in silence.