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touch me? You used to. The Maiden Yes: that is true: I used to. We used to think it would be nice to sleep in one another’s arms; but we never could go to sleep because our weight stopped our circulations just above the elbows. Then somehow my feeling began to change bit by bit. I kept a sort of interest in your head and arms long after I lost interest in your whole body. And now that has gone. Strephon You no longer care for me at all, then? The Maiden Nonsense! I care for you much more seriously than before; though perhaps not so much for you in particular. I mean I care more for everybody. But I don’t want to touch you unnecessarily; and I certainly don’t want you to touch me. Strephon Rising decisively. That finishes it. You dislike me. The Maiden Impatiently. I tell you again, I do not dislike you; but you bore me when you cannot understand; and I think I shall be happier by myself in future. You had better get a new companion. What about the girl who is to be born today? Strephon I do not want the girl who is to be born today. How do I know what she will be like? I want you. The Maiden You cannot have me. You must recognize facts and face them. It is no use running after a woman twice your age. I cannot make my childhood last to please you. The age of love is sweet; but it is short; and I must pay nature’s debt. You no longer attract me; and I no longer care to attract you. Growth is too rapid at my age: I am maturing from week to week. Strephon You are maturing, as you call it⁠—I call it ageing⁠—from minute to minute. You are going much further than you did when we began this conversation. The Maiden It is not the ageing that is so rapid. It is the realization of it when it has actually happened. Now that I have made up my mind to the fact that I have left childhood behind me, it comes home to me in leaps and bounds with every word you say. Strephon But your vow. Have you forgotten that? We all swore together in that temple: the temple of love. You were more earnest than any of us. The Maiden With a grim smile. Never to let our hearts grow cold! Never to become as the ancients! Never to let the sacred lamp be extinguished! Never to change or forget! To be remembered forever as the first company of true lovers faithful to this vow so often made and broken by past generations! Ha! ha! Oh, dear! Strephon Well, you need not laugh. It is a beautiful and holy compact; and I will keep it whilst I live. Are you going to break it? The Maiden Dear child: it has broken itself. The change has come in spite of my childish vow. She rises. Do you mind if I go into the woods for a walk by myself? This chat of ours seems to me an unbearable waste of time. I have so much to think of. Strephon Again collapsing on the altar and covering his eyes with his hands. My heart is broken. He weeps. The Maiden With a shrug. I have luckily got through my childhood without that experience. It shows how wise I was to choose a lover half my age. She goes towards the grove, and is disappearing among the trees, when another youth, older and manlier than Strephon, with crisp hair and firm arms, comes from the temple, and calls to her from the threshold. The Temple Youth I say, Chloe. Is there any sign of the Ancient yet? The hour of birth is overdue. The baby is kicking like mad. She will break her shell prematurely. The Maiden Looks across to the hill path; then points up it, and says. She is coming, Acis. The Maiden turns away through the grove and is lost to sight among the trees. Acis Coming to Strephon. What’s the matter? Has Chloe been unkind? Strephon She has grown up in spite of all her promises. She deceived us about her age. She is four. Acis Four! I am sorry, Strephon. I am getting on for three myself; and I know what old age is. I hate to say “I told you so”; but she was getting a little hard set and flat-chested and thin on the top, wasn’t she? Strephon Breaking down. Don’t. Acis You must pull yourself together. This is going to be a busy day. First the birth. Then the Festival of the Artists. Strephon Rising. What is the use of being born if we have to decay into unnatural, heartless, loveless, joyless monsters in four short years? What use are the artists if they cannot bring their beautiful creations to life? I have a great mind to die and have done with it all. He moves away to the corner of the curved seat farthest from the theatre, and throws himself moodily into it. An Ancient Woman has descended the hill path during Strephon’s lament, and has heard most of it. She is like the He-Ancient, equally bald, and equally without sexual charm, but intensely interesting and rather terrifying. Her sex is discoverable only by her voice, as her breasts are manly, and her figure otherwise not very different. She wears no clothes, but has draped herself rather perfunctorily with a ceremonial robe, and carries two implements like long slender saws. She comes to the altar between the two young men. The She-Ancient To Strephon. Infant: you are only at the beginning of it all. To Acis. Is the child ready to be born? Acis More than ready, Ancient. Shouting and kicking and cursing. We have called to her to be quiet and wait until you come; but of course she only half understands,