Miss Wakefield smiled. "Well, then, I think there is nothing more to be
said. You may go, Harvey."
"You," Sarah said, looking at Miss Wakefield with blazing fury, "are a
coward and a--a _black-mailer_!"
Tiny cracks seemed to appear in the headmistress's porcelain composure.
Angela had not yet left the room and heard Sarah's outburst. She
stopped at the door and turned around with wide eyes.
"Go at once!" cried the headmistress to her, and waited until the door
closed. "You are to be expelled publicly from the school!" she said
to Sarah in a low, unsteady voice. "And first you will be publicly
thrashed!"
Sarah's face was patchy now, red on white, and her skin looked dry as
paper. "If you touch me, I will kill you. I'm not afraid of anyone like
you. I didn't cheat in the exam. I said it to keep you from expelling
Angela, and you knew it all the time. Everything you say is a lie. You
just want to get rid of me because of my mother. You are against votes
for women because you are a liar. You told us in history class about
government by consent, but how can it be when half the population have
nothing to say in the matter? I'm going to pack and leave, and if you
try and stop me, I'll...."
She went fiery red, and then white, and fainted.
The headmistress was breathing hard, and later, when Sarah was taken
to the san, she was frightened. Sarah's temperature was 107 and she
had the most virulent kind of pneumonia the school doctor had yet
come across. He was almost more curious in watching the course of the
disease than he was concerned with the patient, but he did not have
very long to watch it, for Sarah died shortly before sunrise.
* * * * *
Q. As far as one can follow your line of reasoning, you claim that
the head woman of your school was untruthful, but was against
untruth.
A. Yes. Quite a lot of them are.
Q. They sound mad.
A. Well, they are and they aren't. They lie to themselves, mainly;
that's what causes most of the trouble. They have a saying: Know
Thyself, but nobody ever--
Q. _They_ have? Who said it?
A. All sorts of people are said to be the ones who said it first,
but actually I think I was. I was living on an island in the Aegean
Sea, and the mainland Greeks thought women shouldn't be writing
poetry, so there was a row about it. They said I invented
hexameters--which was nonsense--and that made them angry for some
reason. So, later on, they decided I was a myth.
Q. Is this the Sappho you mentioned earlier in this hearing?
A. No, no. She was later and she didn't become a myth. My name was
Phemonoƫ. I meant to tell you about that trip. My father was--
Q. Never mind. We've heard enough of the early trips. What we
should like to hear about is your last. A decision must be made
about these people--we've waited long enough. While it must be
admitted that you are the best we have for the task, you not only
take a long time and make error after error, but in the very
process of examining them, you alter the subject of examination.
A. Yes, I know. They have a new phrase for that. They call it the
Uncertainty Principle. For example, you can't determine the mass
and velocity of a particle and at the same time its position. If
you measure the one, you alter the other.
Q. We are quite aware of that.
A. I just thought I'd remind you.
Q. Unnecessary.
A. That's what men usually say; they dislike being reminded. Am I
to stop making trips?
Q. That will be decided in the light of the rest of your report. I
may tell you now that there will probably be no further trips. You
will be reabsorbed into the Unity.
A. I see. I remember you said the same thing after I reported on
the time they hanged Haman. You seemed to side with him. Anyway, if
I get reabsorbed, it won't be a Unity any more--not the way things
are going.
Q. You overrate yourself. Contact with Mankind has changed you.
A. Oh, it has! I've changed them a bit, but it's the principle of
uncertainty again: it changes me, too.
Q. The Unity is greater than its parts.
A. Not if it's infinite, the way you say it is. You know, it's a
funny thing, but I've never been quite clear just what's behind all
this decision you talk about. What is our purpose?
Q. Does a stone have a purpose when it falls?
A. I'm not talking about values. What are the alternatives you
imply in the decision?
Q. There are three. We destroy them; we absorb them; we ignore
them.
A. I'm afraid they can't be ignored.
Q. Why not?
A. It's too late. The Unity should have started ignoring them right
at the beginning--we are already changed. And if they are absorbed,
we shall be still more changed.