other' I feel I can only believe good of you; but
a moment after I say to myself: it's only one more of your ways of
deceiving me.

STRANGER. What ill have I ever really done you? (The LADY is uncertain
what to reply.) Answer me. What ill have I done you?

LADY. I don't know.

STRANGER. Then invent something. Say to me: I hate you, because I can't
deceive you.

LADY. Can't I? Oh, I'm sorry for you.

STRANGER. You must have poison in the pocket of your dress.

LADY. Well, I have!

STRANGER. What can it be? (Pause.) Who's that coming down the road?

LADY. A harbinger.

STRANGER. Is it a man, or a spectre?

LADY. A spectre from the past.

STRANGER. He's wearing a black coat and a laurel crown. But his feet are
bare.

LADY. It's Caesar.

STRANGER (confused). Caesar? That was my nickname at school.

LADY. Yes. But it's also the name of the madman whom my... first husband
used to look after. Forgive me speaking of him like that.

STRANGER. Has this madman got away?

LADY. It looks like it, doesn't it?

(CAESAR comes in from the back; he wears a black frock coat and is
without a collar; he has a laurel crown on his head and his feet are
bare. His general appearance is bizarre.)

CAESAR. Why don't you greet me? You ought to say: Ave, Caesar! For now
I'm the master. The werewolf, you must know, has gone out of his mind
since the Great Man went off with his wife, whom he himself snatched
from her first lover, or bridegroom, or whatever you call him.

STRANGER (to the LADY). That was strychnine for two adults! (To CAESAR)
Where's your master now--or your slave, or doctor, or warder?

CAESAR. He'll be here soon. But you needn't be frightened of him. He
won't use daggers or poison. He only has to show himself, for all living
things to fly from him; for trees to drop their leaves, and the very
dust of the highway to run before him in a whirlwind like the pillar of
cloud before the Children of Israel....

STRANGER. Listen....

CAESAR. Quiet, whilst I'm speaking.... Sometimes he believes himself to
be a werewolf, and says he'd like to eat a little child that's not yet
born, and that's really his according to the right of priority.... (He
goes on his way.)

LADY (to the STRANGER). Can you exorcise this demon?

STRANGER. I can do nothing against devils who brave the sunshine.

LADY. Yesterday you made an arrogant remark, and now you shall have it
back. You said it wasn't fair for invisible ones to creep i