They wait. Then comes poor Columbine creeping in, timid and ashamed. She
half-dreads from the stern cloaked figure. She turns to her home to kiss
her hand to it. But Harlequin with his wand lures her forward. And she
goes, she goes. Then the wand is waved again, and the cloak is off. It is
her husband; and she shrinks, this time in terror. He stands like a stone.
She waits for a blow--for a curse. But suddenly he kneels among the petals
of the forgotten rose. Is it he begging forgiveness of her? She has no
thought for that; only that she always loved him. She bends to him, he
takes her hands. He rises and she lifts her face. Their lips join.
Alice and Uncle Edward draw the curtains.
There! That's how they get back among the gods.
* * * * *
We don't travel to the next Scene too quickly. Alice has gone back to her
little chair, and there she sits silent, her chin cupped in her hand, her
eyes dreamy. Uncle Edward clears his throat noisily several times. Then he
puts on his spectacles and looks at her.
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