"The form of the young woman which you have seen in the garden--" she
began anew.

"Ah," said John, "observe how differently the big fish and the little
fish will be affected by the same bait."

"When you first spoke of it," said she, "I thought you had seen a holy
apparition."

"Yes," said he. "That was because I couched my communication in language
designedly misleading. I employed the terminology of ghost-lore. I said
'haunted' and 'appear,' and things like that. And you were very properly
and naturally deceived. I confidently expected that you would be. No, it
is not given to world-stained and world-worn old men like me to see holy
apparitions."

"Old men? You are not an old man," said Annunziata.

"Oh? Not? What am I, then?" said John.

"You are a middle-aged man," said she.

"Thank you, Golden Tongue," said he, with a bow.

"And you are sure that it was merely a real person?" she pursued.

"No," said he. "I am too profoundly imbued with the basic principles of
metaphysics ever to be sure of the objective reality of phenomena. I can
only swear to my impression. My impression was and is that it was merely