PETRiSTCHEF. And I am fond of him. I love Vovo, but ... "with a love so strange, ne'er towards him the path untrod shall be" ... [Exit into Vovo's room].

Betsy comes down with a Lady. Koko bows significantly to Betsy.

BETSY [shaking Koko's hand without turning towards him. To Lady] You are acquainted?

LADY. No.

BETSY. Baron Klingen.... Why were you not here last night?

KOKO KLiNGEN. I could not come, I was engaged.

BETSY. What a pity, it was so interesting! [Laughs] You should have seen what manifestations we had! Well, how is our charade getting on?

KOKO KLiNGEN. Oh, the verses for _mon second_ are ready. Nick composed the verses, and I the music.

BETSY. What are they? What are they? Do tell me!

KOKO KLiNGEN. Wait a minute; how does it go?... Oh, the knight sings:

"Oh, _naught_ so beautiful as nature: The _Nautilus_ sails by.

Oh, _naughty_ la.s.s, oh, _naughty_ la.s.s!

Oh, _nought_, oh _nought_! Oh fie!"

LADY. I see, my second is "nought," and what is my first?

KOKO KLiNGEN. My first is _Aero_, the name of a girl savage.

BETSY. _Aero_, you see, is a savage who wished to devour the object of her love. [Laughs] She goes about lamenting, and sings--

"My appet.i.te,"

KOKO KLiNGEN [interrupts]--

"How can I fight," ...

BETSY [chimes in]--

"Some one to chew I long.

I seeking go ..."

KOKO KLiNGEN--

"But even so ..."

BETSY--

"No one to chew can find."

KOKO KLiNGEN--

"A raft sails by,"

BETSY--

"It cometh nigh; Two generals upon it ..."

KOKO KLiNGEN--

"Two generals are we: By fate's hard decree, To this island we flee."

And then, the refrain--

"By fate's hard decree, To this island we flee."

LADY. _Charmant!_

BETSY. But just think how silly!

KOKO KLiNGEN. Yes, that's the charm of it!

LADY. And who is to be Aero?

BETSY. I am. And I have had a costume made, but mamma says it's "not decent." And it is not a bit less decent than a ball dress. [To Theodore Ivanitch] Is Bourdier's man here?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Yes, he is waiting in the kitchen.

LADY. Well, and how will you represent Aeronaut?

BETSY. Oh, you'll see. I don't want to spoil the pleasure for you. _Au revoir._

LADY. Good-bye! [They bow. Exit Lady].

BETSY [to Koko Klingen] Come up to mamma.

Betsy and Koko go upstairs. Jacob enters from servants' quarters, carrying a tray with teacups, cakes, &c., and goes panting across the stage.

JACOB [to the Footmen] How d'you do? How d'you do? [Footmen bow].

JACOB [to Theodore Ivanitch] Couldn't you tell Gregory to help a bit!

I'm ready to drop.... [Exit up the stairs].

FIRST FOOTMAN. That is a hard-working chap you've got there.

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Yes, a good fellow. But there now--he doesn't satisfy the mistress, she says his appearance is ungainly. And now they've gone and told tales about him for letting some peasants into the kitchen yesterday. It is a bad look-out: they may dismiss him. And he is a good fellow.

SECOND FOOTMAN. What peasants were they?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Peasants that had come from our Koursk village to buy some land. It was night, and they were our fellow-countrymen, one of them the father of the butler's a.s.sistant. Well, so they were asked into the kitchen. It so happened that there was thought-reading going on.

Something was hidden in the kitchen, and all the gentlefolk came down, and the mistress saw the peasants. There was such a row! "How is this,"