eak much; but
he's glad to have me near him; and so am I to be near him.

MOTHER. You've reached calm water already? Then it can't be far to the
mill-race! But don't you think you'd have more to talk of, if you read
what he has written?

LADY. Perhaps. You can leave me the book, if you like.

MOTHER. Take it and hide it. It'll be a surprise if you can quote
something from his masterpiece.

LADY (hiding the book in her bag). He's coming. If he's spoken of he
seems to feel it from afar.

MOTHER. If he could only feel how he makes others suffer--from afar.
(Exit left.)

(The LADY, alone for an instant, looks at the book and seems taken
aback. She hides it in her bag.)

STRANGER (entering). Your mother was here? You were speaking of me, of
course. I can almost hear her ill-natured words. They cut the air and
darken the sunshine. I can almost divine the impression of her body in
the atmosphere of the room, and she leaves an odour like that of a dead
snake.

LADY. You're irritable to-day.

STRANGER. Fearfully. Some fool has restrung my nerves out of tune, and
plays on them with a horse-hair bow till he sets my teeth on edge....
You don't know what that is! There's someone here who's stronger than
I! Someone with a searchlight who shines it at me, wherever I may be. Do
they use the black art in this place?

LADY. Don't turn your back on the sunlight. Look at this lovely country;
you'll feel calmer.

STRANGER. I can't bear that poorhouse. It seems to have been built there
solely for me. And a demented woman always stands there beckoning.

LADY. Do you think they treat you badly here?

STRANGER. In a way, no. They feed me with tit-bits, as if I were to be
fattened for the butcher. But I can't eat because they grudge it me, and
I feel the cold rays of their hate. To me it seems there's an icy wind
everywhere, although it's still and hot. And I can hear that accursed
mill....

LADY. It's not grinding now.

STRANGER. Yes. Grinding... grinding.

LADY. Listen. There's no hate here. Pity, at most.

STRANGER. Another thing.... Why do people I meet cross themselves?

LADY. Only because they're used to praying in silence. (Pause.) You had
an unwelcome letter this morning?

STRANGER. Yes. The kind that makes your hair rise from the scalp, so
that you want to curse at fate. I'm owed money, but can't get paid.
Now the law's being set in motion against me by... the guardians of my
children, because I've not paid ali