I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind... At the back of the Daylight Saving sc… - Robertson Davies

"Mystery is the sugar in the cup,' said the Doctor. She picked up the container of white crystals the delicatessen had included in the picnic basket and poured a large dollop into her cognac.

'I don’t think I’d do that, Gunilla,' said Darcourt.

'Nobody wants you to do it, Simon. I am doing it, and that’s enough. That is the curse of life — when people want everybody to do the same wise, stupid thing. Listen: Do you want to know what life is? I’ll tell you. Life is a drama.'

'Shakespeare was ahead of you, Gunilla,' said Darcourt. '"All the world’s a stage,"' he declaimed.

'Shakespeare had the mind of a grocer,' said Gunilla. 'A poet, yes, but the soul of a grocer. He wanted to please people.'

'That was his trade,' said Darcourt. 'And it’s yours, too. Don’t you want this opera to please people?'

'Yes, I do. But that is not philosophy. Hoffmann was no philosopher. Now be quiet, everybody, and listen, because this is very important. Life is a drama. I know. I am a student of the divine Goethe, not that grocer Shakespeare. Life is a drama. But it is a drama we have never understood and most of us are very poor actors. That is why our lives seem to lack meaning and we look for meaning in toys — money, love, fame. Our lives seem to lack meaning but' — the Doctor raised a finger to emphasize her great revelation — 'they don’t, you know.' She seemed to be having some difficulty in sitting upright, and her natural pallor had become ashen.

'You’re off the track, Nilla,' said Darcourt. 'I think we all have a personal myth. Maybe not much of a myth, but anyhow a myth that has its shape and its pattern somewhere outside our daily world.'

'This is all too deep for me,' said Yerko. 'I am glad I am a Gypsy and do not have to have a philosophy and an explanation for everything. Madame, are you not well?'

Too plainly the Doctor was not well. Yerko, an old hand at this kind of illness, lifted her to her feet and gently, but quickly, took her to the door — the door to the outsi

For them, in a time when the individual has lost significance (despite loud assertions to the contrary), an informed, rational, and intellectually adventurous individuality must take precedence over all else. In their seeming disunion lies their real strength.

"Lots of people do," said Cobbler, "but don’t delude yourself. You’re not the suicidal type."

"Why not?"

"You’re too gabby. People who talk a lot about their troubles never commit suicide; talk’s the greatest safety-valve there is."