HELENA. That's enough. Tsumu, are you married?
TSUMU [getting up]. I've been so busy having babies I never had time to get married.
HELENA. It's a great disillusionment.
TSUMU [aghast]. What!
HELENA. I'm not complaining. Moo Moo is the best of husbands, but sometimes being adored too much is trying. [She sighs deeply.] I think I'll wear my heliotrope this afternoon.
[A trumpet sounds below in the courtyard. TSUMU goes to the window.]
TSUMU. They are changing the guards at the gates of the palace. It's almost time for your bath. [She begins scraping the massage ointment back into the box.]
HELENA. You're as careful with that ointment as Moo Moo is with me.
TSUMU. Precious things need precious guarding.
HELENA. It's very short-sighted on Moo Moo's part to send everybody to the galleys who dares lift a head when I pass by—and all those nice-looking soldiers! Why—the only men I ever see besides Moo Moo are Analytikos and a lot of useless eunuchs.