than
thieving?

PATRICIA. You have committed the cruellest crime,
I think, that there is.

STRANGER. And what is the cruellest crime?

PATRICIA. Stealing a child's toy.

STRANGER. And what have I stolen?

PATRICIA. A fairy tale.

And the curtain falls upon the First Act.

An hour later the room is being prepared for the performance. The
Conjuror is setting out his tricks, and the Duke is entangling him and
the Secretary in his peculiar conversation. The following is
characteristic:

THE SECRETARY. . . . The only other thing at all
urgent is the Militant Vegetarians.

DUKE. Ah! The Militant Vegetarians! You've heard
of them, I'm sure. Won't obey the law [_to the_
CONJUROR] so long as the Government serves out
meat.

CONJUROR. Let them be comforted. There are a good
many people who don't get much meat.

DUKE. Well, well, I'm bound to say they're very
enthusiastic. Advanced, too--oh, certainly
advanced. Like Joan of Arc.

[_Short silence, in which the_ CONJUROR _stares at
him._]

CONJUROR. _Was_ Joan of Arc a Vegetarian?

DUKE. Oh, well, it's a very high ideal, after all.
The Sacredness of Life, you know--the Sacredness
of Life. [_Shakes his head._] But they carry it
too far. They killed a policeman down in Kent.

This conversation goes on for some time, while nothing in particular
happens, except that the audience feels very happy. The Duke asks the
Conjuror several questions, receiving thoroughly Chestertonian answers.
["Are you interested in modern progress?" "Yes. We are interested in all
tricks done by illusion."] At last the Conjuror is left alone. Patricia
enters. He attempts to excuse himself for the theft of the fairy tale.
He has had a troublesome life, and has never enjoyed "a holiday in
Fairyland." So, when he, with his hood up, because of the slight rain,
was surprised by Patricia, as he was rehearsing his patter, and taken
for a fairy, he played up to her. Patricia is inclined to forgive him,
but the conversation is interrupted by the entrance of Morris, in a
mood to be offensive. He examines the apparatus, proclaims the way it is
worked, and after a while breaks out into a frenzy of free thought,
asking the universe in general and the Conj