"You, sir, are a fraud!" Secretary von Paradis - courtier at the court of Maria Theresa, Empress of Hapsburg - brought his fist down onto the wooden desk top. The impact set the instruments strewn about the table rattling.
"A fraud?" Doctor Mesmer adjusted his periwig, pulling it back into place on his head. "But, sir! I have endorsements for my magnetic treatments from many fine Viennese ladies and gentlemen. Let me show you."
von Paradis stayed the doctor's hands. "All no doubt charmed from them by your honeyed tongue. Their ailments merely figments of their imaginations. My daughter, sir, is of sterner stuff, while I will not be taken in by your chicanery."
Mesmer tried to recover his composure. "Perhaps, Herr Secretary, it is because your daughter has not been following my instructions?"
The angry official brandished a metal mask at Doctor Mesmer. "This thing? My daughter has worn it faithfully for over a month. She is still blind!"
"Perhaps it was not adjusted properly?" Mesmer made to take the mask, but von Paradis snatched it away from him.
"And how should she wear it?" The mask dangled from von Paradis' hand by a pair of leather straps. "On the leg? The arm? Perhaps upon her arse?"
"Mayhap it has lost its efficacy?"
By way of a reply, the courtier picked up a metal needle from the doctor's desk and held it close to the mask. As soon as he let go, an invisible force pulled the needle onto the mask with an audible 'tink'. "It seems perfectly fine to me," von Paradis said with a sneer.
"Ah." Doctor Mesmer thought for a minute. "Perhaps if I was to examine Fraulein Maria one more time? I might see if her circumstances have changed ... ?"
With a roar of rage, von Paradis hurled the mask at Mesmer's desk. The mask hit and bounced. Mesmer lunged for it and caught it, holding the mask tight to stop it from being damaged any further. "No, sir!" von Paradis set the chandelier swinging with the force of his voice. "You shall not lay another finger upon my daughter. In fact, sir, you will never use your quackery again on anyone in this city. I will make sure of it! Good day, sir!"
And, with that, von Paradis stormed out of Mesmer's consulting room.
The doctor sat frozen, staring at the mask in his trembling hands. It took a few minutes for him to recover his wits. Then a smile appeared on his face. "Of course," he announced to the empty room. "I should be employing animal magnetism, not mineral magnetism."
