insolent way in which she asked for it!...

BELLINE

And what's that white image standing in the corner, the one that never stirs, never speaks and follows us wherever we go?

ROSARELLE

That great lump of clay, that ugly wax-work? That washed-out plaster saint?

BELLINE

She looks very ill.

ROSARELLE

She may have Jewish leprosy or Zanzibar plague or Bombay cholera.... I tell you, we must be careful: that's all very catching....

AIMETTE

(Coming up to the bench timidly.) I should like to sit down too, I'm very tired....

ROSARELLE

Mind what you're about, miss!... There's dust enough as it is; I don't want flour into the bargain.

ROSELLE

What's all this, what's all this? Are we turning up our nose at flour now?

ROSARELLE

I wasn't addressing my remarks to you, madam.

ROSELLE

No, but I'm speaking to you. What bread would you eat if you had no flour?

ROSARELLE

You would do better to tell your father to pay the three quarters' rent that's in arrear.

ROSELLE

He'll pay his rent when your horrid old miser of a grandfather has seen to those repairs. We've been asking to have them done these last three years.

BELLINE

Is it the repairs that prevent your father from paying his butcher's bills?

ROSELLE

Does he owe anything at your shop?

BELLINE

It's six months since we saw the colour of his money.

ROSELLE

He's waiting to see the colour of yours at the inn.

BELLINE

Of mine indeed? You can wait a long time before I set foot in your dirty dram-shop.

ROSELLE

Yes, but that father of yours isn't so squeamish when he comes on Sundays and tipples till we have to put him out dead-drunk.

ROSARELLE

Don't answer her, my dear; we are not accustomed to these pot-house brawls.

ROSELLE

As for you, miss, who pretend to be so particular, you just go and ask your father, the mayor, who it was that nibbled the holes, which were not made by rats, in the town's cash-box.

ROSARELLE

(Springing to her feet, furiously.) Holes which were not made by rats! What do you mean?

ROSELLE

I mean what every one in the village means!...

ROSARELLE

Mind what you're saying; and say it again if you dare.

ROSELLE

Well, what would you do if I did say it again? You don't frighten me with your airs and graces.

ROSARELLE

Never mind my airs and graces; I'll soon show you what I'll do.

ROSELLE

Well, then, I do say it again.

ROSARELLE

(Boxing her ears.) And take that for your answer!...

(Piercing screams and a general turmoil. ROSELLE and AIMETTE make a rush at BELLINE and ROSARELLE, while MILETTE and JALLINE vainly try to separate the combatants. THE VEILED GIRL alone remains motionless in her corner, as though she were not present. The others claw one another's faces, tear one another's hair and end by uttering such piercing yells and shrieks that TYLTYL, returning from the MISER'S, hears them from the far end of the palace and comes running up, scared and dismayed. He is bare-headed and only half-dressed and does not understand what is going on.)

TYLTYL

What is it? What's the matter? What has happened? An accident? Are you hurt? What have you been doing?

THE GIRLS

(All speaking together.) It's she!... No, no, it was Rosarelle who began!... I tell you, it was she!... She insulted me!... She boxed my ears!... She dared to talk against my father!... She spoke ill of my mother!... She's lying, she's lying!... She nearly pulled my ear off!... She's driven a hairpin into my cheek!...

(Enter THE FAIRY.)

THE FAIRY

Why, what's the matter?

TYLTYL

(In bewilderment.) I don't know, ma'am. I think they must have gone mad. They were so sweet when I left them. I should never have known them!... Look, look, they are quite different!... Rosarelle and Belline's eyes are blazing like furies', Aimette looks so spiteful and Roselle so brazen, Jalline hasn't washed herself and Milette's cheeks are as red as a turkey-cock's.... (Bursting into tears and hiding his eyes with his arm, like a child crying.) I can't bear it! Oh, I can't bear it!

THE FAIRY

But, you little silly, it's your own fault!

TYLTYL

My fault?

THE FAIRY

Yes, of course, it's your fault.... And, first, where have you come from? What have you done with your jacket and your green hat?

TYLTYL

Why, ma'am, I was busy dressing; I was putting on the little pair of silk breeches and the jacket embroidered with pearls which you told me I was to wear when I went to see the Ancestors.... Then I heard screams, dropped everything, ran up and found them fighting, tearing out one another's hair and scratching one another's faces....

THE FAIRY

A pretty business!... That will teach you to run after them without your talisman, which reveals the truth.... I call it most incorrect and improper.... Don't you see that you are not seeing them now as they are?...

TYLTYL

I'm not seeing them as they are?... Then how do I see them?...

THE FAIRY

Why, as they are not, that is to say, as you ought never to see them.... It's all so wonderfully simple: anything that's ugly isn't true, never has been true and never will be.

TYLTYL

That's easily said; but you see what you do see.

THE FAIRY

When you see what you do see, you see nothing at all.... I've told you before, it's what you do not see that makes the world go round.... All this doesn't count; it's only a little foam on the surface of the ocean.... But run quickly and fetch the sapphire and we shall once more see deep down into their souls, the truth of their hearts and the well-spring of their life.... Wait, you needn't trouble: I see Light coming; she has brought you your hat.

(Enter LIGHT.)

LIGHT

Good-evening, Tyltyl.

TYLTYL

(Throwing himself passionately into her arms.) Oh, Light, Light!... It's my dear Light!... Where were you?... What have you been doing ever since I saw you last?... I have missed you so much and looked for you so often!...

LIGHT

My dear little Tyltyl!... I have never lost sight of you.... I have guided you and counselled you and kissed you very often, without your knowing it.... But we will talk about all this later; to-day we have no time; I have only one night to give you and there is a great deal to be done.

(Enter DESTINY.)

DESTINY

Where is Tyltyl?

TYLTYL

Here. I'm not trying to hide.

DESTINY

And quite right too, for it would be no use; there's no escaping me....

TYLTYL

(Contemplating him in astonishment.)

But what's the matter with you?... What has happened to you? You look so much smaller!... You seem to be less tall and less broad.... You're not ill, are you?...

DESTINY

(Who has indeed shrunk appreciably.)

I? I never change, I am always the same; I am insuperable, insensible, invulnerable, immutable, inexorable, irresistible, invisible, inflexible and irrevocable!...

TYLTYL

All right, all right, what I said was merely....

THE FAIRY

(Aside, to TYLTYL.) Be quiet, you will only vex him and he will get out of hand.... It is probably being so close to Light that has upset him; they never did agree.... (Aloud.) Come, children, it's time.... Put on your hat, Tyltyl, and turn the sapphire; we shall see what happens: sometimes it works upon people's hearts, sometimes on their minds, sometimes on the objects around them and