You fool! You fool! (_Throws Agnus from him and goes out slamming the door behind him_) [_The face at the window turns to see Onfroy go hurriedly by. Agnus, rushing after him, throws open the door, thus disclosing a man in the garden who is waiting to enter._ MAN Did I hear my name mentioned? (_Enters. He is as unlike the popular conceptions of The Devil as possible, being short, squat, respectable, fat and Teutonic. He is followed by a queer light that darts and circles the ceiling_) You called me, I think! (_He closes the door_) AGNUS (_backing_) What! What! MAN (_seating himself comfortably_) You called me— AGNUS You? Who are you?— MAN My real name is Wisdom. You called me The Devil. [_The light flashes across his face and circles around him._ AGNUS I—you—! THE DEVIL You said: “The Devil give me strength.” AGNUS You—The Devil. (_Suddenly convulsed with laughter, sits down_) THE DEVIL (_gruffly_) Oh, I know, I look like the devil, but not like _The Devil_. But this was the only body handy when I got back from Mars the last time, so I had to take it— [_The light darts viciously at him._ THE DEVIL (_points to the light, laughing_) There’s the real owner of this carcass—a crazy German anarchist.—He was howling for The Devil just as you were—wanted me to help blow up all the capitalists— [_The light attacks him again._ THE DEVIL Tags after his foolish body, hoping I’ll get tired of it and give it back, I suppose.—And so I will when I find a better one. It’s no fun for a fiend of my renowned gentlemanly appearance to be masquerading as a Dutch comedian. Worse than that—the police are looking for it. That’s why I was hiding in your garden when I happened to hear you call me. The Devil, in jail—a fine tale to take back to Mars. AGNUS (_aghast_) Man, you should be in some lunatic asylum— MAN Don’t call me “man.” That’s a deadly insult. If ever a respectable Martian was sick of anything, it’s that unreasonable ignorant ridiculous combination of poll-parrot and monkey— AGNUS Poor lunatic! I must humor you, I suppose.—Have you forgotten there have been _great_ men? THE DEVIL Never. I have been all the great men in history. All the great men have been The Devil: alias Wisdom. By taking possession of men’s bodies I have tried to set up an ideal to strive for, set the race an example. And then, when I had to quit and go back to Mars, each time the human’s little soul came back to its body and, finding itself with too much power, was responsible for all the inconsistencies, treacheries, and cruelties that have puzzled psychologists and historians— AGNUS You are a plausible lunatic, anyway. Would you mind mentioning who you were, for instance— THE DEVIL Oh, all the first-rate fellows—Confucius, Buddha, Mahomet—St. Augustine, Martin Luther, Moses—to mention a few—Shakespeare, Dickens—those were my sentimental days— AGNUS (_amused_) Oh! you wrote Shakespeare’s plays, did you?— THE DEVIL All the _good_ ones—