"I have," said the Angel, "a most unusual feeling—here. Have had since sunrise. I don't remember ever having any feeling—here before."

 

"Not pain, I hope," said the Vicar.

 

"Oh no! It is quite different from that—a kind of vacuous¹ feeling."

 

"The atmospheric² pressure, perhaps, is a little different," the Vicar began, feeling his chin.

 

"And do you know, I have also the most curious sensations in my mouth—almost as if—it's so absurd!—as if I wanted to stuff things into it."

 

"Bless me!" said the Vicar. "Of course! You're hungry!"

 

"Hungry!" said the Angel. "What's that?"

 

"Don't you eat?"

 

"Eat! The word's quite new to me."

 

"Put food into your mouth, you know. One has to here. You will soon learn. If you don't, you[Pg 32] get thin and miserable³, and suffer a great deal—pain, you know—and finally you die."

 

"Die!" said the Angel. "That's another strange word!"

 

"It's not strange here. It means leaving off, you know," said the Vicar.

 

"We never leave off," said the Angel.

 

"You don't know what may happen to you in this world," said the Vicar, thinking him over. "Possibly if you are feeling hungry, and can feel pain and have your wings broken, you may even have to die before you get out of it again. At anyrate you had better try eating. For my own part—ahem!—there are many more disagreeable things."

 

"I suppose I had better Eat," said the Angel. "If it's not too difficult. I don't like this 'Pain' of yours, and I don't like this 'Hungry.' If your 'Die' is anything like it, I would prefer to Eat. What a very odd world this is!"

 

"To Die," said the Vicar, "is generally considered worse than either pain or hunger.... It depends."

 

"You must explain all that to me later," said[Pg 33] the Angel. "Unless I wake up. At present, please show me how to eat. If you will. I feel a kind of urgency...."

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