“Rather to the bore, sir; not necessarily the same thing. But whether men be decorated for making themselves useful, or troublesome, the result in either case is to secure a comparative inertia, which has ever been the desideratum; for you must surely be aware, sir, how a man’s dignity weighs him down.” “Are women also rewarded in this way?” “Yes, and very often; for although their dignity is already ample, their tongues are long, and they have little shame and no nerves in the matter of public speaking.” “And what price their virtue?” asked the Angel. “There is some change since the days of the Great Skirmish,” responded his dragoman. “They do not now so readily sell it, except for a wedding-ring; and many marry for love. Women, indeed, are often deplorably lacking in commercial spirit; and though they now mix in commerce, have not yet been able to adapt themselves. Some men even go so far as to think that their participation in active life is not good for trade and keeps the country back.” “They are a curious sex,” said the Angel; “I like them, but they make too much fuss about babies.” “Ah! sir; there is the great flaw. The mother instinct--so heedless and uncommercial! They seem to love the things just for their own sakes.” “Yes,” said the Angel, “there’s no future in it. Give me a cigar.” VIII “What, then, is the present position of ‘the good’?” asked the Angel Æthereal, taking wing from Watchester Cathedrome towards the City Tabernacle. “There are a number of discordant views, sir,” his dragoman whiffled through his nose in the rushing air; “which is no more novel in this year of Peace 1947 than it was when you were here in 1910. On the far right are certain extremists, who believe it to be what it was--omnipotent, but suffering the presence of ‘the bad’ for no reason which has yet been ascertained; omnipresent, though presumably absent where ‘the bad’ is present; mysterious, though perfectly revealed; terrible, though loving; eternal, though limited by a beginning and an end. They are not numerous, but all stall-holders, and chiefly characterised by an almost perfect intolerance of those whose views do not coincide with their own; nor will they suffer for a moment any examination into the nature of ‘the good,’ which they hold to be established for all time, in the form I have stated, by persons who have long been dead. They are, as you may imagine, somewhat out of touch with science, such as it is, and are regarded by the community at large rather with curiosity than anything else.” “The type is well known in the sky,” said the Angel. “Tell me: Do they torture those who do not agree with them?”