ELEONORA. One should never deceive.
BENJAMIN. No, but let me telephone to the florist and explain to him.
ELEONORA. No, I did wrong, and I must take the consequences. I have awakened their fear of burglars, and I must be punished.
BENJAMIN. But what if the police come in?
ELEONORA. That would be dreadful—but what must be, must be. Oh, that this day were ended! [Takes clock from table and puts the hands forward.] Dear old clock, go a little faster—tick, tick, tick. [The clock strikes eight.] Now it's eight. [Moves hands again.] Tick, tick, tick. [Business with clock.] Now it's nine—ten—eleven—twelve—o'clock. Now it is Easter eve, and the sun will soon be rising, and then we'll color the Easter eggs.
BENJAMIN. You can make time fly, can't you?
ELEONORA. Think, Benjamin, of all the anemones and violets that had to stay in the snow all winter and freeze there in the darkness.
BENJAMIN. How they must suffer!
ELEONORA. Night is hardest for them—they are afraid of the darkness, but they can't run away, and so they must stay there thro' the long winter night, waiting for spring, which is their dawn. Everybody and everything must suffer, but the flowers suffer most. Yes, and the song-birds, they have returned; where are they to sleep tonight?
BENJAMIN [Childishly]. In the hollow trees.