MR. HUBBARD. Are you ready, my love?
MRS. HUBBARD. Yes, Henry.
MR. HUBBARD. Quick march!
(The children are heard tramping off. Very proudly MR. and MRS. HUBBARD bring up the rear.)
SCENE IV.—The Court of FATHER CHRISTMAS. Shall we describe it? No. But there is everything there which any reasonable person could want, from ices to catapults. And the decorations, done in candy so that you can break off a piece whenever you are hungry, are superb.
1ST USHER (from the back). Father Christmas!
SEVERAL USHERS (from the front). Father Christmas! (He comes in.)
FATHER CHRISTMAS (genially). Good evening, everybody.
I ought to have said that there are already some hundreds of people there, though how some of them got invitations—but, after all, that is not our business. Wishing to put them quite at their ease, FATHER CHRISTMAS, who has a very creditable baritone, gives them a song. After the applause which follows it, he retires to the throne at the back, and awaits his more important guests. The USHERS take up their places, one at the entrance, one close to the throne.
1ST USHER. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hubbard! (They come in.)