The Guinea-hen
The Acme Incubator.
The Pheasant-hen
Oh, have you?
The Guinea-hen
[Presenting the Chicks.] All from the topmost compartment!
The Pheasant-hen
Indeed?
One of the Chicks
[Nudging his neighbour.] She is dumbfounded!
The Guinea-hen
[Contemptuously.] Eggs hatched by the old vulgar method, fie!
The Blackbird, Good Lord, exempt us!
The Magpie
[Announcing.] The Guinea-pig!
The Guinea-hen
It’s the famous one, you know! The Guinea-pig who was inoculated—surely you remember the case—very well, that’s the one! There you see him. I made a point of getting him to come. Everybody is here! I have everybody! I have—[To the Guinea-pig.] How do you do? [To the Pheasant-hen.] I have our great philosopher Tur-Key—Yes, it should be written with a hyphen—who will give us a little talk among the currant bushes under the tea-roses—[To a passing Hen.] How do you do? [To the Pheasant-hen.] Educational Tea or Currant Topics! [Whirling from one to the other.] Everyone is here, everyone of the slightest mark or consequence! The Pheasant-hen is here, in a frock from fairyland. The Duck is here, who is so good as to say he will recite for us by and by. The Tortoise is here—[Noticing that the Tortoise is not there] I was mistaken, the Tortoise is not here. She is late.
The Blackbird
[Affecting deep concern.] What is the little talk she seems so regrettably likely to miss?