THE FAIRY

The same as with the diamond, from right to left.... (Looking at TYLTYL.) Goodness me, how pale you are!... What has come over you? Surely you're not afraid?...

TYLTYL

Not at all, on the contrary.... I always look like this....

THE FAIRY

You needn't be ashamed to admit it: this is a very serious moment; and, if men knew what happened, in this life and all the others, when they made a bad choice, they'd never dare to get married at all.... But what you're trying to do is to put off the dreadful moment; and I'm a goose to be listening to you.... Come, turn the sapphire!

(TYLTYL turns the sapphire. No sooner has he done so than the cottage is filled with a supernatural light, which invests all things with beauty, purity and a transcendent joy. A window opens noiselessly and a young girl, dressed like a wood-cutter and carrying a hatchet in her hand, steps into the room and runs up and kisses TYLTYL.)

THE GIRL

Good evening, Tyltyl!... You called me: here I am!...

TYLTYL

Hullo, it's Milette!... (To THE FAIRY.) This is Milette, my cousin, the daughter of Feltree, the wood-cutter.... We see each other sometimes in the forest.... (To MILETTE.) So you loved me?... You never said so!...

MILETTE

Do people say such things in a life where everything is forbidden? Need they say them?... But I knew at once and from the first that you loved me; and so did I love you.... It was one evening when you went past with your father. You were carrying a bundle of laurel-twigs. You didn't know my name then and said, "Good evening," and looked into my eyes. I answered, "Good night," and cast my eyes down; but I had that look of yours in my heart; and, since then, without leaving home, I've been here very often; but you didn't seem to know....

TYLTYL

No, no, it's I who every evening after sunset used to go to you. I was never at home. Mummy would ask, "What are you thinking of, Tyltyl?" And daddy answered, "He's up in the moon again!" I wasn't in the moon at all, I was with you; but you paid no attention: you were seeing to the fire, or the soup, or the rabbits; you were cutting chips or tying up bundles, as if no one had entered your cottage....

MILETTE

No, I was here and kissing you all the time; but you didn't kiss me....

TYLTYL

I tell you it was I who was always kissing you; I tell you it was you who were never there....

MILETTE

It's funny that we can never see things till we've learnt how to look for them.... But, now that we do know, now that we see, we can really kiss each other....

TYLTYL

(Eagerly kissing MILETTE.) Yes, yes, let's kiss each other again and again till we have no kisses left!... Oh, how wonderful it is!... I never kissed anybody till now; and I'd no idea what it was like!... Oh, how wonderful, how wonderful!... I could kiss you for ever! I could spend my life kissing you!...

MILETTE

And I, I too!... I'd never kissed anybody either: I mean, I'd only kissed daddy and mummy; it's not the same thing at all.... But tell me, Tyltyl, is it true that you love me and only me?... Who is that coming in?

(Opening the wall, which closes again behind her, enter a second young girl, dressed in a blood-red skirt and bodice. A butcher's knife hangs from her belt.)

THE SECOND GIRL

(Rushing up to TYLTYL and kissing him.) Here I am, Tyltyl darling, here I am!

TYLTYL

(To THE FAIRY.) This is Belline, my cousin, the butcher's daughter.... (To BELLINE.) What's the matter with you, Belline dear? You're wet through and quite out of breath!...

BELLINE

I should think I was!... It's a long way from the village to your place!... I didn't even wait to wash my hands.... I was helping daddy to cut up a calf; the moment your thoughts came, I dropped my knife and left everything so as to get here quicker.... I even believe that, while I was there, I cut my finger rather badly; but here it doesn't show.... Daddy hasn't the least idea what has happened; he must be furious. (Catching sight of MILETTE.) How do you do, Milette?

MILETTE

How do you do, Belline?... Do you love him too?

BELLINE

Why, yes, of course!... You're not angry with me?

MILETTE

Not at all, I'm glad.... We'll both of us love him....

BELLINE

How pretty you look this evening, Milette dearest....

MILETTE

No, it's you, Belline: you've never been more beautiful....

TYLTYL

(To THE FAIRY.) They're taking it very well!...

THE FAIRY

Of course they are; they know it's not your fault....

(At this point, the chimney-recess lights up, opens at the hack and admits a third young girl, dressed like the maid at an inn and carrying a pewter tray under one arm and a bottle under the other.)

THE THIRD GIRL

(Enthusiastically, darting at TYLTYL.) Here I am, here I am! It's me!... Good evening, everybody; but first a kiss for Tyltyl!...

TYLTYL

Hullo, you too, Roselle?... (To THE FAIRY.) This is Roselle, the daughter of the landlord of the Golden Sun.... (To ROSELLE.) Was there no one at the inn this evening, that you were able to come?

ROSELLE

On the contrary, heaps of people! You can imagine, on Christmas Eve! There were men sitting and drinking on the counter and on all the window-sills. I dropped a tray with twelve glasses on it when you called me. Why, I've still got the tray under this arm and a bottle of the best brandy under the other. It gets in my way when I'm kissing you.... I left them shouting after me, down there, as though I had set the house on fire.... They must be wondering if I'm mad. But I don't care, I was so delighted that you were thinking of me. A sudden happiness came over me.... How are you, Tyltyl dear?... Kiss me again!... You're even handsomer than when I saw you last....

TYLTYL

(Kissing her.) And you, dear Roselle, you are prettier than ever; and your cheeks are so soft and cool.... I never dared kiss you before.... When any one else did, I always said to myself, "How happy he must be!"

ROSELLE

The others didn't matter.... But I knew well enough that you didn't dare.... I didn't dare either, though I was dying to kiss you.... Do you remember the first time you came to the inn, six weeks ago? It was on a Sunday morning, after High Mass; you didn't look at anybody; but suddenly, when I came near, your eyes grew so bright and opened so wide....

TYLTYL

And so did yours open wide: they looked like two lakes.

ROSELLE

What were they doing, our eyes? What happened?... I know that, since that day, I think of nothing but you, I do no work, I'm always here; but you came very seldom....

(Coming down the ladder from the attic, enter a fourth young girl, in rustic clothes, all white with flour.)

TYLTYL

(Turning round.) Who's there? You, Aimette?... (To THE FAIRY.) This is Aimette, another cousin, the miller's daughter....

THE FAIRY

Go on, go on, you're doing very nicely!

AIMETTE

(A little shyly.) I came as I was, from the mill. I've not had time to brush myself.

TYLTYL

That doesn't matter. Kiss me all the same. How fresh and rosy you are, underneath all that flour!...

AIMETTE

I shall never dare.... You'd be covered with it....

(She has hardly finished speaking when, through the other window, enter a fifth young girl, bare-foot, bare-headed, clad in rags and carrying in her hand a wooden bowl with a few halfpence clinking in it. She does not dare come forward.)

TYLTYL

One more!... (To THE FAIRY.) This is Jalline, the little beggar-girl from the bridge by