"Where are your facts?" asked the baroness.
"Facts? Hm!" laughed Kallash. "If facts are needed, they will be forthcoming. Believe me, dear baroness, that if I had not legally sufficient facts in my hands, I would not have spoken to you of this."
Kallash lied, but lied with the most complete appearance of probability.
The baroness again grew confused and turned white.
"Where are your facts? Put them in my hands!" she said at last, after a prolonged silence.
"Oh, this is too much! Get hold of them yourself!" the count replied, with the same smile. "The facts are generally set forth to the prisoner by the court; but it is enough for you in the meantime to know that the facts exist, and that they are in my possession. Believe, if you wish. If you do not wish, do not believe. I will neither persuade you nor dissuade you."
"And this means that I am in your power?" she said slowly, raising her piercing glance to his face.
"Yes; it means that you are in my power," quietly and confidently answered Count Kallash.
"But you forget that you and I are in the same boat."
"You mean that I am a sharper, like you and Bodlevski? Well, you are right. We are all berries of the same bunch—except HER" (and he indicated the folding doors). "She, thanks to many things, has tasted misery, but she is honest. But we are all rascals, and I first of all. You are perfectly right in that. If you wish to get me in your power—try to find some facts against me. Then we shall be quits!"