ARDEN: Astraea!
LADY OLDLACE: She was entranced when he spoke of woman descending from her ideal to the gross reality of man.
OSIER: Yes, yes. I have the words [reads]: ‘Woman is to the front of man, holding the vestal flower of a purer civilization. I see,’ he says, ‘the little taper in her hands transparent round the light, against rough winds.’
DAME DRESDEN: And of Astraea herself, what were the words? ‘Nature’s dedicated widow.’
SWITHIN: Vestal widow, was it not?
VIRGINIA: Maiden widow, I think.
DAME DRESDEN: We decide for ‘dedicated.’
WINIFRED: Spiral paid his most happy tribute to the memory of her late husband, the renowned Professor Towers.
VIRGINIA: But his look was at dear Astraea.
ARDEN: At Astraea? Why?