gentle and so pretty-mannered. Faith,--

FID. Hush! Hush! Here come the prettiest pair of birds
That ever sat together on a bough so close
You could not see the sky between. How now,
Snow-White and Rose-Red! Are you reconciled
One to another?

[Enter Beatrice and Bianca, with their arms about one another.]

BIA. Reconciled, Fidelio?
We had not quarrelled! [Laughter from Fidelio and the ladies.]

BEA. Do not listen to him,
Bianca, 'tis but the jingling of his bells.

FIDELIO. Do you make a better jest than that
At once, or have the clappers cut from them.

FID. Alas, alas,--all the good jests are made.
I made them yesterday.

CAR. If that be true,
You would best become a wise man for a time,
My friend,--there are plenty of wise words not yet said!

FID. I shall say them all tomorrow.

LAU. If you do,
You will be stoned to death.

FID. Not I. No one
Will hear me.--Well, I am off.--I know an old man
Who does not know the road runs past his house;
And yet his bees make honey. [Exit Fidelio.]

CAR. [Looking after him.] 'Tis the one wise fool
We have among us.

[Enter Grazia.]

GRA. Oh, here you are, my ducklings!
Always together, like a beggar and a flea!
I looked for you at lunch-time; I forget now
What for; but then 'twas a matter of more weight
Than laying siege to a city,--la, how time
Does carry one on! An hour is like an ocean,
The way it separates you from yourself!--
[To Bianca and Beatrice.] What do you find to talk about all day?

BEA. We do not talk all day.

CAR. Nay, tis you, Grazia,
That talk all day.

BEA. We ride, and play at tennis,
And row on the lake--

GRA. I know who does the rowing!

BEA. Nay, not by any means! Bianca rows
Nearly as well as I.

CAR. And do you ride
Nearly as well as she, Bianca? [All smile.]

BIA. [Ruefully.] Nay.

GRA. 'Tis an unkind question. There be few in Fiori
Might answer, "Aye." Her Highness rides like a centaur.

BIA. I'd never dare to mount the horse she rides.

BEA. What, Harlequin?--La, he's gentle as a kitten!
Though he's a little young, 'tis true, not settled yet
In his mind.

LAU. As to his mind, 'twere a small matter,
Were he a bit more settled in his legs!

BIA. I'm afraid of horses, anyway, they are so much
Bigger than I am.

BEA. Oh, Bianca, horses
Are just like people! Are you afraid of father?--