aback. She hides it in her bag.)

STRANGER (entering). Your mother was here? You were speaking of me,
of course. I can almost hear her ill-natured words. They cut the
air and darken the sunshine. I can almost divine the impression of
her body in the atmosphere of the room, and she leaves an odour
like that of a dead snake.

LADY. You're irritable to-day.

STRANGER. Fearfully. Some fool has restrung my nerves out of tune,
and plays on them with a horse-hair bow till he sets my teeth on
edge. ... You don't know what that is! There's someone here who's
stronger than I! Someone with a searchlight who shines it at me,
wherever I may be. Do they use the black art in this place?

LADY. Don't turn your back on the sunlight. Look at this lovely
country; you'll feel calmer.

STRANGER. I can't bear that poorhouse. It seems to have been built
there solely for me. And a demented woman always stands there
beckoning.

LADY. Do you think they treat you badly here?

STRANGER. In a way, no. They feed me with tit-bits, as if I were to
be fattened for the butcher. But I can't eat because they grudge it
me, and I feel the cold rays of their hate. To me it seems there's
an icy wind everywhere, although it's still and hot. And I can hear
that accursed mill. ...