Father. You, my child! Aren't you too young for parties? Ask your mother.
Cinderella. May I go to the ball, mother?
Mother. Nonsense, child! what are you thinking of? A ball is no place for a child like you. You are better off at home by the kitchen fire.
Cinderella. But I'm fourteen. Sister Katherine, won't you coax mamma to let me go?
Katherine. No, indeed, I'll not! What would you do at a ball? a silly thing like you!
Elizabeth. Don't be a goose. Wait till you're older and better looking. There's no room in the carriage for you, and you are too young, anyway.
Mother. Come, girls, it is time for us to go down town to buy our new gowns. Cinderella, go to your lessons. Don't think any more about the ball. You can't go, and so that's the end of it.
Scene II.—Cinderella's Home
Father. Come, girls! aren't you ready yet? Is your mother coming?