"Who came in?"

"No one came in."

"You're an ass!" shrieked Rickie. "She came in. You saw her come
in. She and her brother have been to dinner."

"You only think so. They were not really there."

"But they stop till Monday."

"You only think that they are stopping."

"But--oh, look here, shut up! The girl like an empress--"

"I saw no empress, nor any girl, nor have you seen them."

"Ansell, don't rag."

"Elliot, I never rag, and you know it. She was not really there."

There was a moment's silence. Then Rickie exclaimed, "I've got
you. You say--or was it Tilliard?--no, YOU say that the cow's
there. Well--there these people are, then. Got you. Yah!"

"Did it never strike you that phenomena may be of two kinds: ONE,
those which have a real existence, such as the cow; TWO, those
which are the subjective product of a diseased imagination, and
which, to our destruction, we invest with the semblance of
reality? If this never struck you, let it strike you now."