A Hen
[To the Guinea-hen.] Your guest, my dear, can fit an epithet!
The Guinea-hen
Pontiff of the Unexpected Adjective I call him!
The Peacock
[Distilling his words, in a discordant haughty voice.] True it is that—
The Guinea-hen
Ah, this is most pleasant, most pleasant! He is going to talk to us.
The Peacock
—a Ruskin rather more refined, I hope, than the earlier one, with a tact—
The Guinea-hen
Very true!
Peacock
—a tact for which I stand largely in my own debt, I have constituted myself Petronius-Priest and Maecenas-Messiah volatile volatiliser of words, and that, jeweled judge, I love by my cameos and filigrees of speech to represent the Taste of which I am the—
Patou
Oh, my poor head!
The Peacock
[Nonchalantly.]—shall I say guardian?
The Guinea-hen
[Effervescently.] Do say guardian!