(Enter next MILETTE, BELLINE, ROSELLE and ROSARELLE, followed by AIMETTE and Jalline, who are supporting DESTINY between them. He is now a head shorter than TYLTYL, wears the same tragic costume as before, seems very weary and sinks down on a heap of snow.)
TYLTYL
(Going to him, with a certain solicitude.) Are you ill?
DESTINY
I? Not at all: I am always the same, I am unchangeable.... But when you alone are responsible for everything, when you have to manage everything, direct everything and foresee everything and when nobody helps you (casting an aggressive eye on LIGHT), you are entitled to a moment's rest.... I therefore order a halt. It is decided irrevocably: to-day we go no farther.
LIGHT Admirable! And so it shall be, for we have arrived; and with Destiny's permission, we shall find ourselves, without taking another step, among the children who are awaiting us....
(The curtain parts and opens upon the next scene.)
SCENE IX
The Abode of the Children
The immense halls, the lofty vaults, the infinite perspectives of arches and columns of the Kingdom of the Future in "The Blue Bird"; but this time, it being the nuptial hour, everything is of a soft, milky white, gleaming and transparent. The radiant shapes of amber-coloured light bathe in unspeakable gladness all the things that they touch; and everywhere are signs of a deep and unfaltering joy. The boundless horizon stretches towards the veiled white of the Milky Way, the ether quivering with myriads of unknown stars.
(When the curtain opens, TYLTYL, LIGHT, DESTINY and THE SIX GIRLS are in the foreground, on the right, at the foot of one of the alabaster columns supporting the entrance-arch. They take a few steps into the immense deserted hall, while THE WHITE PHANTOM hides timidly behind the column.)