THE BISHOP. Yes, you! think of what it would do for you. For her sake you would come to care unselfishly and diligently for money instead of being selfishly and lazily indifferent to it. For her sake you would come to care in the same way for preferment. For her sake you would come to care for your health, your appearance, the good opinion of your fellow creatures, and all the really important things that make men work and strive instead of mooning and nursing their salvation. SOAMES. In one word, for the sake of one deadly sin I should come to care for all the others. THE BISHOP. Saint Anthony! Tempt him, Mrs Collins: tempt him. MRS GEORGE [rising and looking strangely before her] Take care, my lord: you still have the power to make me obey your commands. And do you, Mr Sexton, beware of an empty heart. THE BISHOP. Yes. Nature abhors a vacuum, Anthony. I would not dare go about with an empty heart: why, the first girl I met would fly into it by mere atmospheric pressure. Alice keeps them out now. Mrs Collins knows. MRS GEORGE [a faint convulsion passing like a wave over her] I know more than either of you. One of you has not yet exhausted his first love: the other has not yet reached it. But I--I--[she reels and is again convulsed]. THE BISHOP [saving her from falling] Whats the matter? Are you ill, Mrs Collins? [He gets her back into her chair]. Soames: theres a glass of water in the study--quick. [Soames hurries to the study door.] MRS. GEORGE. No. [Soames stops]. Dont call. Dont bring anyone. Cant you hear anything? THE BISHOP. Nothing unusual. [He sits by her, watching her with intense surprise and interest]. MRS GEORGE. No music? SOAMES. No. [He steals to the end of the table and sits on her right, equally interested]. MRS GEORGE. Do you see nothing--not a great light? THE BISHOP. We are still walking in darkness. MRS GEORGE. Put your hand on my forehead: the hand with the ring. [He does so. Her eyes close]. SOAMES [inspired to prophesy] There was a certain woman, the wife of a coal merchant, which had been a great sinner . . . The Bishop, startled, takes his hand away. Mrs George's eyes open vividly as she interrupts Soames. MRS GEORGE. You prophesy falsely, Anthony: never in all my life have I done anything that was not ordained for me. [More quietly] Ive been myself. Ive not been afraid of myself. And at last I have escaped from myself, and am become a voice for them that are afraid to speak, and a cry for the hearts that break in silence. SOAMES [whispering] Is she inspired? THE BISHOP. Marvellous. Hush. MRS GEORGE. I have earned the right to speak. I have dared: I have gone through: I have not fallen withered in the fire: I have come at last out beyond, to the back of Godspeed? THE BISHOP. And what do you see there, at the back of Godspeed? SOAMES [hungrily] Give us your message.