Alice.. I'll see.
[So she turns and sticks her head through the curtains.
Yes.
Uncle Edward.. Music.
[And the music begins again.
Some are all for a bell, and again others are for a gong, but ...
[He wields his trusty mallet for three hard whacks on the floor. And then the two of them draw back the curtains on the second scene.
A line of dark cypress trees; a blue sky and an Italian landscape. A path to a house. A young man lying on the ground reading. His name is Gelsomino. The music tells him that he hears Columbine. He stirs, looks round, frowns, and goes back to his book. Columbine flies out of the house.
Alice.. [Radiant and proud.] This is Columbine.