"Woman, your second-sight has cost us dear!" cried Andrè. "Monsieur!" interrupted Mademoiselle Trompere, sternly. "Your impositions will bring you into trouble, as they do other people," continued Andrè. "Your lies bear seed--do you know it?--and grow into poison, blighting and working mischief wherever you spread them. If you do not fully contradict the tale you told my silly wife the other day, I will let you know that you carry on a dangerous trade." "Your wife! My good man, you are mad!" returned the somnambule. "I am nearly so," said Andrè; "so take care what you say. My wife--look at her--you have seen her before; you need not attempt to deny _that_. She, in a foolish whim, came to you the other day, and you told her certain falsehoods respecting me, which I now demand that you own to be such. Acknowledge your trick, and I will have no more to say; but refuse, and I go instantly to the préfet of police." The old man stood by with a wandering look, as if stricken with sudden imbecility; but his bolder companion regarded the furious visitor with absolute _sang-froid_, fixing upon him a glance that never wavered. "My profession, my good man," said she, coldly, leaning back in her cushioned chair, "is to discover truth, not to deny it. People consult me when they find the course of their lives disturbed by secret causes, and when the clearing up of such little mysteries is desirable. Your wife, prompted by a very justifiable and proper curiosity, has availed herself of the grand discovery of which I am an exponent. M. Folitton, you accuse me of falsehood, and ask me to deny what I know to be true. Of course I refuse to do any thing of the sort. Doubtless you think to make yourself appear guiltless in the eyes of the wife whom you have wronged, by frightening a woman, and forcing her to declare that you are perfectly faithful and true. Impostor as you style me, I am neither weak nor wicked enough for that!" "Then I must consult the préfet," said Andrè. "And I also," said the clairvoyante. "If necessary, I will not scruple to make manifest to the whole world the truth of the revelations your wife heard from me." "You are bold, woman!"