LAUDISI. The fact is that neither of you is wrong. May I explain? I will prove it to you. Now here you are, you, Sirelli, and Signora Sirelli, your wife, there; and here I am. You see me, don't you? SIRELLI. Well ... er ... yes. LAUDISI. Do you see me, or do you not? SIRELLI. Oh, I'll bite! Of course I see you. LAUDISI. So you see me! But that's not enough. Come here! SIRELLI (_smiling, he obeys, but with a puzzled expression on his face as though he fails to understand what Laudisi is driving at_). Well, here I am! LAUDISI. Yes! Now take a better look at me.... Touch me! That's it--that's it! Now you are touching me, are you not? And you see me! You're sure you see me? SIRELLI. Why, I should say.... LAUDISI. Yes, but the point is, you're sure! Of course you're sure! Now if you please, Signora Sirelli, you come here--or rather ... no ... (_gallantly_) it is my place to come to you! (_He goes over to Signora Sirelli and kneels chivalrously on one knee_). You see me, do you not, madam? Now that hand of yours ... touch me! A pretty hand, on my word! (_He pats her hand_). SIRELLI. Easy! Easy! LAUDISI. Never mind your husband, madam! Now, you have touched me, have you not? And you see me? And you are absolutely sure about me, are you not? Well now, madam, I beg of you; do not tell your husband, nor my sister, nor my niece, nor Signora Cini here, what you think of me; because, if you were to do that, they would all tell you that you are completely wrong. But, you see, you are really right; because I am really what you take me to be; though, my dear madam, that does not prevent me from also being really what your husband, my sister, my niece, and Signora Cini take me to be--because they also are absolutely right! SIGNORA SIRELLI. In other words you are a different person for each of us. LAUDISI. Of course I'm a different person! And you, madam, pretty as you are, aren't you a different person, too? SIGNORA SIRELLI (_hastily_). No siree! I assure you, as far as I'm concerned, I'm always the same always, yesterday, today, and forever! LAUDISI. Ah, but so am I, from my point of view, believe me! And, I would say that you are all mistaken unless you see me as I see myself; but that would be an inexcusable presumption on my part--as it would be on yours, my dear madam! SIRELLI. And what has all this rigmarole got to do with it, may I ask? LAUDISI. What has it got to do with it? Why ... I find all you people here at your wits' ends trying to find out who and what other people are; just as though other people had to be this, or that, and nothing else. SIGNORA SIRELLI. All you are saying is that we can never find out the truth! A dreadful idea!