"Try them? Why? I haven't lost anybody, have I?"

"You haven't, precisely _lost anybody_, but the fact remains that you
can't _find somebody_," returned Kerns coolly. "Why not employ Keen &
Co. to look for her?"

"Look for whom, in Heaven's name?"

"Your ideal."

"Look for--for my ideal! Kerns, you're crazy. How the mischief can
anybody hunt for somebody who doesn't exist?"

"You _say_ that she _does_ exist."

"But I can't prove it, man."

"You don't have to; it's up to Keen & Co. to prove it. That's why you
employ them."

"What wild nonsense you talk! Keen & Co. might, perhaps, be able to
trace the concrete, but how are they going to trace and find the
abstract?"

"She isn't abstract; she is a lovely, healthy, and youthful concrete
object--if, as you say, she _does_ exist."

"How can I _prove_ she exists?"