Alice.. You see, she's a new maid, and he's pretending that that's her master. Lord Eglantine ... Betty Richardson! It's rather wicked of them.
[Harlequin waves his clothes' brush, and the wig stand bows back. He waves it again, and all the clothes tumble together in a heap.
One hears the front door bang. Harlequin waves Columbine into the bedroom, sweeps the clothes together into a neat pile and stands waiting by the door. There enters Lord Eglantine, the Beau. A trifle pale, disordered, calm. He has been gambling all night. To the rhythm of a minuet Harlequin takes his cloak, hat, and cane, takes off his coat and gets him into a gorgeous dressing-gown, and so into his chair. And there he sits looking for all the world like the bundle of clothes come to life.
In the next room Columbine begins to sing again, and Lord Eglantine leans forward to listen.
Eglantine.. Maunds of cowslips, honey bags of bees! Whose voice is that?
Harlequin.. Ten thousand pardons, my lord, it is the chambermaid.
Eglantine.. She has a name?
Harlequin.. Richardson, my lord.
Eglantine.. Richardson. Are there people called Richardson? Interesting!
Harlequin.. I will stop her, my lord. We did not expect your lordship to return so soon.