I feel like a carrot in a stew,--I boil so
I bump the kettle on all sides!

LAU. My dear,
Were you as plump as I you would not dare
Become so angry. It would make your stays creak.

CAR. Well, I am done. Fidelio, play me a dirge
To put me in good spirits. Merry music
Is sure to make me sad.

[Fidelio plays. Pause.]

CAR. 'Tis curious
A woman like her should have a child like that--
So gentle and so pretty-mannered. Faith,--

FID. Hush! Hush! Here come the prettiest pair of birds
That ever sat together on a bough so close
You could not see the sky between. How now,
Snow-White and Rose-Red! Are you reconciled
One to another?

[Enter Beatrice and Bianca, with their arms about one another.]

BIA. Reconciled, Fidelio?
We had not quarrelled! [Laughter from Fidelio and the ladies.]

BEA. Do not listen to him,
Bianca, 'tis but the jingling of his bells.