perform gymnastics, I beg you to draw your own conclusions."
"Oh, do not ask me to form an opinion; I really do not know what to think; it seems as if it were all a frightful nightmare!"
"I don't know whether it is a dream, but it strikes me that I am pretty wide awake, and that I reason remarkably well."
"Yes, yes," said Cornelius, pacing nervously up and down the room, "you reason remarkably well!"
"And my suppositions are logical enough."
"Yes, yes, very logical."
"And so far I have not made a single error. Therefore, you must admit that the young girl is guilty."
"Well then, no!" eagerly replied Cornelius, looking the sergeant square in the face. "No! I will never believe her guilty, unless she says so herself! And God knows—she might declare that she is guilty, and yet I would protest that she is innocent!"
"But," objected the sergeant, "what proofs can you produce? I, at least, have proven the truth of my assertions."
"Ah! I know nothing, I can prove nothing," replied Cornelius, "and everything you have said, every proof you have produced, is not to be disputed—"
"Well then?"
