into the firmament, where she what has never yet been seen, and
hears what men never yet heard. ...

LADY. And the day after?

STRANGER. I have the most delightful scruples of conscience! I
experience the purifying emotions of guilt and repentance. I enjoy
the sufferings of the body, whilst my soul hovers like smoke about
my head. It is as if one were suspended between Life and Death,
when the spirit feels that she has already opened her pinions and
could fly aloft, if she would.

LADY. Come into the church for a moment. You'll hear no sermon,
only the beautiful music of vespers.

STRANGER. No. Not into church! It depresses me because I feel I
don't belong there. ... That I'm an unhappy soul and that it's as
impossible for me to re-enter as to become a child again.

LADY. You feel all that ... already?

STRANGER. Yes. I've got that far. I feel as if I lay hacked in
pieces and were being slowly melted in Medea's cauldron. Either I
shall be sent to the soap-boilers, or arise renewed from my own
dripping! It depends on Medea's skill!

LADY. That sounds like the word of an oracle. We must see if you
can't become a child again.

STRANGER. We should have to start with the cradle; and this time