Then Mrs. Pottage woke from the trance into which the duet had flung her and pulled Letizia down again into a sitting posture.
“Duckie, you mustn’t call out and spoil the lovely singing.”
“I don’t like that boy,” said Letizia firmly.
“Yes, but listen.”
“And my lamb what Santy Claus gave me doesn’t like him.”
“Hush, duckie, hush!”
“And I won’t listen. And I won’t look, Mrs. Porridge.”
“Come, come, be a good girl.”
But Letizia struggled out of Mrs. Pottage’s arms and retreated under the seat of the stall from which she did not emerge until this enigmatic interlude in the life of the Fairy Queen came to an end amid a tumult of applause from the profoundly moved audience.
Letizia failed to recognise her father when he came rushing on for the Harlequinade at the end of the Transformation Scene with the time-honoured greeting of “Here we are again!” And when Mrs. Pottage told her who the clown was, she merely shook her head violently and reiterated “No, no, no, no, no!”