SCENE SECOND

THE BLACKBIRD, THE PHEASANT-HEN, _later_ CHANTECLER

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Panting, tragically earnest._] I ran all the way.--You were there.--Oh, I am half dead with terror!--Well you must have overheard their dreadful secret! You, his friend!

THE BLACKBIRD [_Cheerfully rummaging among the moss._] Or the thigh of a katydid will do.

THE PHEASANT-HEN I was watching from a distance. I crouched in a ditch--[_In an anguished voice._] Well?

THE BLACKBIRD [_In genuine surprise._] Well, what?

THE PHEASANT-HEN Their conspiracy--

THE BLACKBIRD [_Calmly._] It all went off very nicely.

THE PHEASANT-HEN What do you mean?

THE BLACKBIRD The shadow was a correct and appropriate blue, and the Owls said perfectly characteristic things.

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_In wild alarm._] Heavens, they plotted his death?

THE BLACKBIRD His decease, which is not nearly so bad.

THE PHEASANT-HEN But--

THE BLACKBIRD Don't smite your brow! In spite of the Screech-Owl's grave and self-important tone, I shouldn't wonder if it all amounted to very little.

THE PHEASANT-HEN Those Owls--

THE BLACKBIRD Are good enough in their various parts, but it's the old excessive style of acting.

THE PHEASANT-HEN I beg your pardon?

THE BLACKBIRD Back numbers!

THE PHEASANT-HEN Oh?

THE BLACKBIRD They have eyelashes, fancy, all the way round their eyes! It's too much of a good thing, really.--And that black plot, those desperately dark designs, all that belongs to the year one; you can see moss growing on its back!

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Fluttering hither and thither feverishly._] I am never quite sure of understanding when a person is talking in fun.

THE BLACKBIRD [_Winking at her._] No flies on your acting!

THE PHEASANT-HEN Surely you wouldn't be laughing if he were in danger? Those ruffians--?

THE BLACKBIRD Prattlers! Wooden Swords! Knights of Hot Air!

THE PHEASANT-HEN But Scops--?

THE BLACKBIRD A stuffed Owl!

THE PHEASANT-HEN And the Great Bubo--?

THE BLACKBIRD Just two ten-candle-power lamps, to be turned on and off with a switch,--crick-crack! And Flammeolus, two lamps likewise--but acetylene!

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Bewildered by his imagery._] And so--?

THE BLACKBIRD No, trembling Gypsy, there's not enough in this great plot to choke a flea withal!

THE PHEASANT-HEN Truly? I have been so horribly afraid--

THE BLACKBIRD Fear, I warn you, lovely Zingara, leads to dyspepsia! It's because he keeps his eye closed and buried in the sand that the ostrich has preserved his famous digestion!

THE PHEASANT-HEN So it might seem.

THE BLACKBIRD We have in these latter days bowed Tragedy respectfully out of the house!

THE PHEASANT-HEN But had we not best warn Chantecler, so that--

THE BLACKBIRD He would go instantly and challenge them. And then such a whetting of steel!

THE PHEASANT-HEN You are right. So he would.

THE BLACKBIRD On your principle, mad Gitana, an oak-gall could be made into a world.

THE PHEASANT-HEN You have much good sense.

THE BLACKBIRD Daughter of the forest, I have.

CHANTECLER'S VOICE [_Outside._] Coa--

THE PHEASANT-HEN Chantecler!

CHANTECLER [_Approaching on the left, between the hollies, calls from afar._] Who is there?

THE PHEASANT-HEN It is I!

CHANTECLER [_Still from a distance._] Alone?

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_With a significant look at the_ BLACKBIRD.] Yes, alone.

THE BLACKBIRD [_Understanding._] I vanish--I am off to supper.

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Low to the_ BLACKBIRD.] And so--?

THE BLACKBIRD [_Motioning her to be silent._] Keep it dark! [_As he is leaving, by the right, in the manner of one giving an order to a waiter._] Earwigs for one!

THE PHEASANT-HEN [_Low._] It is wiser, you think, not to tell him?