PRINCE. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you?
SWANWHITE. Just think, he didn't notice it!—And now I have got a brother of my own, and that is you!—My little brother—take my hand!
PRINCE. [Taking her hand] My little sister! [Feels her pulse beating under his thumb] What have you there, that's ticking—one, and two, and three, and four——? Continues to count silently after having looked at his watch.
SWANWHITE. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks—so steady, steady, steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast—Put your hand here, and you can feel it too. [The doves begin to stir and coo] What is it, little white ones?
PRINCE. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking—it is the time! Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within the watch?
SWANWHITE. [Handling the watch] We cannot reach the inside of the watch—no more than of the heart—Just feel my heart!
SIGNE. [Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts down on the table] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at opposite sides of the table.
The PRINCE sits down at the opposite end of the table. He and SWANWHITE look at each other in silence for a while.
SWANWHITE. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before.
PRINCE. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other.