ADAM. Oh! That is what you think, is it? Well, you are wrong. [_He sits down again, sulkily_]. It is the horror of having to be with myself for ever. I like you; but I do not like myself. I want to be different; to be better, to begin again and again; to shed myself as a snake sheds its skin. I am tired of myself. And yet I must endure myself, not for a day or for many days, but for ever. That is a dreadful thought. That is what makes me sit brooding and silent and hateful. Do you never think of that? EVE. No: I do not think about myself: what is the use? I am what I am: nothing can alter that. I think about you. ADAM. You should not. You are always spying on me. I can never be alone. You always want to know what I have been doing. It is a burden. You should try to have an existence of your own, instead of occupying yourself with my existence. EVE. I _have_ to think about you. You are lazy: you are dirty: you neglect yourself: you are always dreaming: you would eat bad food and become disgusting if I did not watch you and occupy myself with you. And now some day, in spite of all my care, you will fall on your head and become dead. ADAM. Dead? What word is that? EVE [_pointing to the fawn_] Like that. I call it dead. ADAM [_rising and approaching it slowly_] There is something uncanny about it. EVE [_joining him_] Oh! It is changing into little white worms. ADAM. Throw it into the river. It is unbearable. EVE. I dare not touch it. ADAM. Then I must, though I loathe it. It is poisoning the air. [_He gathers its hooves in his hand and carries it away in the direction from which Eve came, holding it as far from him as possible_]. Eve looks after them for a moment; then, with a shiver of disgust, sits down on the rock, brooding. The body of the serpent becomes visible, glowing with wonderful new colors. She rears her head slowly from the bed of Johnswort, and speaks into Eve's ear in a strange seductively musical whisper. THE SERPENT. Eve. EVE [_startled_] Who is that? THE SERPENT. It is I. I have come to shew you my beautiful new hood. See [_she spreads a magnificent amethystine hood_]! EVE [_admiring it_] Oh! But who taught you to speak? THE SERPENT. You and Adam. I have crept through the grass, and hidden, and listened to you. EVE. That was wonderfully clever of you. THE SERPENT. I am the most subtle of all the creatures of the field. EVE. Your hood is most lovely. [_She strokes it and pets the serpent_]. Pretty thing! Do you love your godmother Eve? THE SERPENT. I adore her. [_She licks Eve's neck with her double tongue_]. EVE [_petting her_] Eve's wonderful darling snake. Eve will never be lonely now that her snake can talk to her. THE SNAKE. I can talk of many things. I am very wise. It was I who whispered the word to you that you did not know. Dead. Death. Die. EVE [_shuddering_] Why do you remind me of it? I forgot it when I saw your beautiful hood. You must not remind me of unhappy things.