“No. I went to school when Materialism was at its height. We were taught to subdue the spirit and pay proper deference to the flesh.” “It would keep you from hysteria and hysterics, did it not?” “Yes. For myself, I always consider the spirit more dangerous than the flesh.” “So do I. Now, I haven’t much flesh, Alice. Look at me. I’m not big in any way--and I’m not heavy. But oh! Serpent of Lucifram! I am weighed down with spirit. I feel everything--from the sight of a cockroach up to the Silence in the Temple.” “It is a form of hysteria, madam. They taught us so at school. Make up your mind and you’ll feel nothing.” But Marigold shook her head. “I was born to feel, and I pray God the Serpent, that as soon as I cease to feel I may die.” “Then there is no hope for you, Princess. If you will pet yourself up to insist on feeling, you will either die of a broken heart or become the--the--the----” “The biggest actress under the sun.” “Heaven forbid! They are a bad lot--a shocking bad lot--and they have to act pretty strong things before people admit they’re big at all.” “Well, if I were put to it, _I_ could act something strong.” “Your character’s gone as soon as you’ve acted it well--_really_ well.” “I don’t require a character. I don’t make my own living. Respectability is no necessity to me.” “You’ll need a character for Heaven, Princess.” “But that’s just it, Alice. You know I think all the people on Lucifram were born to go to Hell. No--don’t exclaim--I really mean it.” “My mother heard the angels sing before she died. I am certain she has gone to Heaven.” “What was the tune like?” “Madam!” “Your mother was unkind and selfish. Had I been dying and heard the angels sing, I should have come round again just to write out the score. It was the echo of an anthem at the Temple that she heard--no more.” “Now, Princess, _you_ are the Materialist.” “I liked your mother, Alice. I don’t think she went to Hell. I think she went--nowhere.” “She was a most religious woman.” “Most women are. It’s born in them. But it won’t get them to Heaven. It is the common form of hysteria--the big deception. Oh dear! the Shadow of the Temple affects even one’s conversation. If I live here much longer I shall turn nun.” “That necessitates an orthodox religion.” “I _am_ orthodox. I love the great High Priest.” “But you must love the Serpent.” “It isn’t in the nature of a reasonable woman to love anything reasonably but a man.” “Then I hope the great High Priest, through the Holy Serpent, will teach you differently.” “When he sees me--as I really am--he will forget the Serpent for a time.” “Do you mean when he sees you as a Princess?” “Oh no--my nose is just the same, beggar or Princess--so is the whole of me. I mean when he sees _me_--not the little nonentity in rags he saw this afternoon.” “How is he to see you?” “I’m going there for a bread ticket to-morrow afternoon.” “Going with the beggars to the Palace?” “Why not?”