(_The two guilty ones, who well know the harmlessness of such outbursts,laugh quietly to themselves and lying flat as bed-room slippers, look atone another through the fringes of the chair. The garden gate opens_.

SHE _comes in carrying a basket, full of fragrant plums; her arms aresticky from their sugariness, her hair tumbled_. SHE _stands horrified,before the disaster_.)

SHE

0h! They've been fighting again, have they? (_Without conviction_.) Dear_me,_ what nasty creatures! I'll give them away! I'll sell them!!--I'll_kill_ them!!! (_But the feline and dog, groveling in exaggerated humility,crawl up to her, and speak together_.)