_Enter from the right, in the foreground, the_ CAT

NIGHT
Who goes there?

THE CAT (_sinking heavily upon the marble steps_)
It is I, Mother Night.... I am worn out....

NIGHT
What's the matter, child?... You look pale and thin and you are splashed
with mud to your very whiskers.... Have you been fighting on the tiles
again, in the snow and rain?...

THE CAT
It has nothing to do with the tiles!... It's our secret that's at stake!...
It's the beginning of the end!... I have managed to escape for a moment to
warn you; but I greatly fear that there is nothing to be done....

NIGHT
Why?... What has happened?...

THE CAT
I have told you of little Tyltyl, the woodcutter's son, and of the magic
diamond.... Well, he is coming here to demand the Blue Bird of you....

NIGHT
He hasn't got it yet.....

THE CAT
He will have it soon, unless we perform some miracle.... This is how the