The Guinea-hen
[Suddenly serious.] The Moral Problem.
The Blackbird
What a pity!
[The Guinea-hen goes to the back, scattering greetings, in ecstasies of sociability.]
The Pheasant-hen
[To the Blackbird.] Who is the Tortoise?
The Blackbird
A hard old character, impervious, I fear, to moral problems, who goes in for walking matches in a loud check suit!
[Murmur among the hollyhocks.]
The Pheasant-hen
Listen, a Drone!
The Guinea-hen
[Briskly returning.] The Drone is here! In the bright light overhead, what a stylish figure of a fly!
The Blackbird
No “at home” complete without it! Ladies cry for it! Won’t be happy until—
The Guinea-hen
[Jumping up in the air toward the Drone.] How do you do? How do you do? [She follows his flight with excited leaps and hops.]