Again I heard Ricori cursing softly. I said: "If you do not know how the dolls are made, you must know
what is necessary to make them alive. What is it?"
She did not answer.
"You must answer me. You must obey me. Speak!"
She said: "Your question is not clear. I have told you that something of the dead makes them alive. What
else is it you would know?"
"Begin from where one who poses for a doll first meets Madame Mandilip to the last step when the
doll-as you put it-becomes alive."
She spoke, dreamily:
"She has said one must come to her of his own will. He must consent of his own volition, without