ARJILLAX [_springing up and shouting to Pygmalion, who is fondly watching the Male Figure_] Look out, Pygmalion! Look at the woman! _Pygmalion, seeing what is happening, hurls himself on the Female Figure and wrenches the stone out of her hand. All spring up in consternation._ ARJILLAX. She meant to kill him. STREPHON. This is horrible. THE FEMALE FIGURE [_wrestling with Pygmalion_] Let me go. Let me go, will you [_she bites his hand_]. PYGMALION [_releasing her and staggering_] Oh! _A general shriek of horror echoes his exclamation. He turns deadly pale, and supports himself against the end of the curved seat._ THE FEMALE FIGURE [_to her consort_] You would stand there and let me be treated like this, you unmanly coward. _Pygmalion falls dead._ THE NEWLY BORN. Oh! Whats the matter? Why did he fall! What has happened to him? _They look on anxiously as Martellus kneels down and examines the body of Pygmalion._ MARTELLUS. She has bitten a piece out of his hand nearly as large as a finger nail: enough to kill ten men. There is no pulse, no breath. ECRASIA. But his thumb is clinched. MARTELLUS. No: it has just straightened out. See! He has gone. Poor Pygmalion! THE NEWLY BORN. Oh! [_She weeps_]. STREPHON. Hush, dear: thats childish. THE NEWLY BORN [_subsiding with a sniff_]!! MARTELLUS [_rising_] Dead in his third year. What a loss to Science! ARJILLAX. Who cares about Science? Serve him right for making that pair of horrors! THE MALE FIGURE [_glaring_] Ha! THE FEMALE FIGURE. Keep a civil tongue in your head, you. THE NEWLY BORN. Oh, do not be so unkind, Arjillax. You will make water come out of my eyes again. MARTELLUS [_contemplating the Figures_] Just look at these two devils. I modelled them out of the stuff Pygmalion made for them. They are masterpieces of art. And see what they have done! Does that convince you of the value of art, Arjillax! STREPHON. They look dangerous. Keep away from them. ECRASIA. No need to tell us that, Strephon. Pf! They poison the air. THE MALE FIGURE. Beware, woman. The wrath of Ozymandias strikes like the lightning. THE FEMALE FIGURE. You just say that again if you dare, you filthy creature. ACIS. What are you going to do with them, Martellus? You are responsible for them, now that Pygmalion has gone. MARTELLUS. If they were marble it would be simple enough: I could smash them. As it is, how am I to kill them without making a horrible mess? THE MALE FIGURE [_posing heroically_] Ha! [_He declaims_] Come one: come all: this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I. THE FEMALE FIGURE [_fondly_] My man! My hero husband! I am proud of you. I love you. MARTELLUS. We must send out a message for an ancient. ACIS. Need we bother an ancient about such a trifle? It will take less than half a second to reduce our poor Pygmalion to a pinch of dust. Why not calcine the two along with him?