marvellously, with a new start, non-human. Man is one of the mistakes of creation — like the ichthyosauri. If only he were gone again, think what lovely things would come out of the liberated days; — things straight out of the fire.’

‘But man will never be gone,’ she said, with insidious, diabolical knowledge of the horrors of persistence. ‘The world will go with him.’

‘Ah no,’ he answered, ‘not so. I believe in the proud angels and the demons that are our fore-runners. They will destroy us, because we are not proud enough. The ichthyosauri were not proud: they crawled and floundered as we do. And besides, look at elder-flowers and bluebells — they are a sign that pure creation takes place — even the butterfly.