"Of course! You were still asleep. I know. Go on! What did the voice say?"
"No, I won't go on at all, Volumnia, if you're going to be nasty."
"Oh yes, do go on. I'm greatly interested. But you must remember that we hear thousands of these things every week at the Psychomorphic. We had a very interesting case only the other day. A man heard a dog barking.... However, go on."
"Very well, only you mustn't interrupt. What was I saying? ... Oh yes—the voice! I heard it quite distinctly, only very small.... Nonsense!—you know quite well what I mean.... What did it say? What I heard was, 'Hold me up, and let me look at you.' Now I know, my dear Volumnia, you will say I am making it improbable on purpose...."
"Not at all, my dear Euphemia! The case is commoner than you suppose, even when the subject is wide awake. Please tell it exactly as you recollect it. Soften nothing." The implication was that Psychomorphism would know how much to take, and how much to reject.
"I am telling it exactly as it happened. It said..."
"What said?"
"The picture said."
"The picture! Oh, we hadn't come to that. Now what does that mean? The picture said!"
"Volumnia!—IF you interrupt I can't tell it at all. Do let me go on my own way."