Oh, how nice of him! What a dear, brave crystal! But I can't
bear to see his flanks all broken, and the clay within them.
L. Yes; it was an evil chance for him, the being born to such
contention; there are some enemies so base that even to hold them
captive is a kind of dishonor. But look, here has been quite a
different kind of struggle: the adverse power has been more
orderly, and has fought the pure crystal in ranks as firm as its
own. This is not mere rage and impediment of crowded evil: here is
a disciplined hostility; army against army.
LILY. Oh, but this is much more beautiful!
L. Yes, for both the elements have true virtue in them, it is a
pity they are at war, but they war grandly.
MARY. But is this the same clay as in the other crystal?
L. I used the word clay for shortness. In both, the enemy is
really limestone; but in the first, disordered, and mixed with
true clay; while, here, it is nearly pure, and crystallizes into
its own primitive form, the oblique six-sided one, which you know:
and out of these it makes regiments; and then squares of the
regiments, and so charges the rock crystal, literally in square
against column.
ISABEL. Please, please, let me see. And what does the rock crystal
do?
L. The rock crystal seems able to do nothing.
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