lity is a lost habit."

"Are there women there?"

"As with you, and not very differently formed."

"Do they love?"

He laughed. "So much so that it has changed the dress, speech, and
thoughts of the whole sex."

"Probably they are more beautiful than I?"

"No, I think not," said Maskull.

There was another rather long silence, as they travelled unsteadily
onward.

"What is your business in Ifdawn?" demanded Oceaxe suddenly.

He hesitated over his answer. "Can you grasp that it's possible to have
an aim right in front of one, so big that one can't see it as a whole?"

She stole a long, inquisitive look at him, "What sort of aim?"

"A moral aim."

"Are you proposing to set the world right?"

"I propose nothing--I am waiting."

"Don't wait too long, for time doesn't wait--especially in Ifdawn."

"Something will happen," said Maskull.

Oceaxe threw a subtle smile. "So you have no special destination in the
Marest?"

"No, and if you'll permit me, I will come home with you."

"Singular man!" she said, with a short, thrilling laugh. "That's what I
have been offering all the time. Of course you will come home with me.
As for Crimtyphon..."

"You mentioned that name before. Who is he?"

"Oh! My lover, or, as you would say, my husband."

"This doesn't improve matters," said Maskull.

"It leaves them exactly where they were. We merely have to remove him."

"We are certainly misunderstanding each other," said Maskull, quite
startled. "Do you by any chance imagine that I am making a compact with
you?"

"You will do nothing against your will. But you have promised to come
home with me."

"Tell me, how do you remove husbands in Ifdawn?"

"Either you or I must kill him."

He eyed her for a full minute. "Now we are passing from folly to
insanity."

"Not at all," replied Oceaxe. "It is the too-sad truth. And when you
have seen Crimtyphon, you will realise it."

"I'm aware I am on a strange planet," said Maskull slowly, "where
all sorts of unheard of things may happen, and where the very laws of
morality may be different. Still as far as I am concerned, murder is
murder, and I'll have no more to do with a woman who wants to make use
of me, to get rid of her husband."

"You think me wicked?" demanded Oceaxe steadily.

"Or mad."

"Then you had better leave me, Maskull--only--"

"Only what?"

"You wish to be consistent, don't you? Leave all other mad and wicked
people as well. Then you'll find i