A figure is seen to stand in front of the red lamp, blotting it out for a moment. Patricia calls to it, and the cloaked Stranger with the pointed hood enters. Morris at once calls him a fraud. SMITH. [_Quickly._] Pardon me, I do not fancy that we know that. . . . MORRIS. I didn't know you parsons stuck up for any fables but your own. SMITH. I stick up for the thing every man has a right to. Perhaps the only thing every man has a right to. MORRIS. And what is that? SMITH. The benefit of the doubt. Morris returns to the attack. The Stranger throws off his hood and reveals himself to the Duke. He is the Conjuror, ready for the evening's performance. All laugh at this _denouement_, except Patricia, between whom and the Conjuror this bit of dialogue ensues: STRANGER. [_Very sadly._] I am very sorry I am not a wizard. PATRICIA. I wish you were a thief instead. STRANGER. Have I committed a worse crime than thieving? PATRICIA. You have committed the cruellest crime, I think, that there is. STRANGER. And what is the cruellest crime? PATRICIA. Stealing a child's toy. STRANGER. And what have I stolen? PATRICIA. A fairy tale. And the curtain falls upon the First Act. An hour later the room is being prepared for the performance. The Conjuror is setting out his tricks, and the Duke is entangling him and the Secretary in his peculiar conversation. The following is characteristic: THE SECRETARY. . . . The only other thing at all urgent is the Militant Vegetarians. DUKE. Ah! The Militant Vegetarians! You've heard of them, I'm sure. Won't obey the law [_to the_ CONJUROR] so long as the Government serves out meat. CONJUROR. Let them be comforted. There are a good many people who don't get much meat. DUKE. Well, well, I'm bound to say they're very enthusiastic. Advanced, too--oh, certainly advanced. Like Joan of Arc. [_Short silence, in which the_ CONJUROR _stares at him._] CONJUROR. _Was_ Joan of Arc a Vegetarian? DUKE. Oh, well, it's a very high ideal, after all. The Sacredness of Life, you know--the Sacredness of Life. [_Shakes his head._] But they carry it too far. They killed a policeman down in Kent.