Instead of going directly to the palace they retire toward the woods to suggest a lapse of time.
So far the Greek tableaux had been dominated by single figures, chiefly the hero of the poem.
Now a change occurs.
In the courtyard before the palace Penelope is seen to appear accompanied by her maidens.
A serene and stately Penelope robed in ivory and gold, her ash-brown hair braided and coiled low on her neck, a gold band in her hair, Joan Peters had never looked so handsome.
About her the troop of maidens like a swarm of brilliant, many-colored flowers.
They moved from the yard and onto a broad space of ground untouched by tree or shrub. Here the grass had been closely cut so that it formed a velvet greensward.
Penelope stands in the background and her maidens advance.
They were sixteen in number and represented the four seasons.
As Kara’s illness made it impossible for her to be of their number, the sixteen girls were not alone Girl Scouts from the camp in Beechwood Forest. Four of them were gowned in white, four in pale green, four in blue and four in scarlet.