The Betrothal Part 15

_The Abode of the Ancestors_

_A large open s.p.a.ce, under an Elysian light, which imparts to all things an aspect of ethereal and lasting felicity and unchanging gladness. The back and the two sides of the square are formed of dwelling-places of different periods, some stately, some lowly, but all radiant and a little unreal. In the foreground, on the right, for instance, is the entrance to the cottage of_ TYLTYL'S _grandparents; next comes the gable of a farm-house of older date; then the front of a little eighteenth-century shop; and thus in succession, running from right to left and across the back, a seventeenth-century town-house, a sixteenth-century prison, tavern and hospital, a fifteenth-century mansion; some thirteenth-century hovels, a twelfth-century church, a Gallo-Roman farm and villa, and so on. Intersecting the background at the middle is a street in endless perspective, bordered with the very oldest houses and leading to the huts and caves of primitive mankind. In the foreground are a few stone benches standing under fine trees, laurels, plane-trees or cypresses_.

(TYLTYL, LIGHT, DESTINY _and_ THE SIX GIRLS _come forward, followed at a distance by_ THE WHITE PHANTOM, _who keeps to one side as usual. They have taken but a few steps when_ GAFFER _and_ GRANNY TYL _come hurrying out of their cottage and, with exclamations of delight, throw themselves into_ TYLTYL'S _arms_.)

GRANNY TYL

Tyltyl! Tyltyl!... Gracious, you again!... But this time it's not a surprise. We were expecting you; we were told three days ago.... All the same, though, we're so glad to see you that it's difficult to believe at first.... But how big and strong you've grown, dear! And so good-looking: I should never have known you!... Oh, dear, how nice it is to get a kiss like this now and again!...

GAFFER TYL

Haven't you brought Mytyl this time?...

GRANNY TYL

Of course he hasn't; you know it's not her turn yet.... We know what you're here for, Tyltyl: it's not to see us! You needn't blus.h.!.+... You young rascal, you scamp!... There, there, you're quite right; and the sooner you set about it the better.... So it's one of these girls they have to choose?

TYLTYL

Yes, Granny, it seems so.

GAFFER TYL

(_Eyeing them like an expert_.) Ho, ho!... And, my word, a very nice lot too! My compliments! I admire your taste.... (_Pointing to_ ROSELLE.) If I were you, I'd choose that one: she's the prettiest and the plumpest.

GRANNY TYL

Hold your tongue; no one's asking your advice: you know you've no say in the matter. We're still too young; we've hardly begun to get cold and haven't had time yet to pick up things.... It takes so long; there's so much to learn!... But the others, especially the oldest, who now are the youngest: it's they who know everything....

TYLTYL

What? The oldest are the youngest in this country?...

GRANNY TYL

Yes, it seems one gets younger as one grows older.... I'm beginning to notice it myself.

TYLTYL

That's odd.... But where on earth are they?... I see n.o.body....

GAFFER TYL

They'll come very soon.... I wonder they're not here yet.

TYLTYL

Are there many of them?

GRANNY TYL

What do you think! All your ancestors since the world began! There'd be so many that we shouldn't know where to put them!... But we shall only see a few of them. A good many are travelling in other worlds; and, as a fact, some of the oldest are always away. But those who are on the spot choose in the name of all. They always agree; and it seems they very seldom make a mistake.... But here's one coming out of his house. You see the little man shutting up his shop?

(_A spruce_ LITTLE MAN _is seen leaving the eighteenth-century shop_.)

TYLTYL

Who's he?

GRANNY TYL

It's your grandfather's grandfather; he was a grocer at Versailles in the reign of Louis the Fifteenth.

TYLTYL

What funny clothes!

GRANNY TYL

He has put on the things which he wore in his shop.... Here, as a rule, the weather is so mild, the air so warm and balmy, that we've no need to dress ourselves; but you wouldn't be able to see us if we had no clothes; and so, in your honour, we've put on those we used to wear on earth.... It'll be quite amusing: some of them date back ever so far....

Look, there they come, out of the houses they once lived in....

(_Enter from the town-house a_ CITIZEN _of the time of Louis XIV; from the sixteenth-century prison a_ PRISONER _still wearing chains and irons on his feet and hands. His shackles now seem to be light and cause him no inconvenience. He attracts_ TYLTYL'S _attention_.)

TYLTYL

Who is that one? Was he chained up?

GRANNY TYL

Yes, he is one of your ancestors who spent nearly all his life in prison.

TYLTYL

It's not a thing to boast of; he'd have done better to stay at home.

GRANNY TYL

He did nothing wrong. He used to steal bread or other little things which one could eat, to keep his children from starving. He suffered a great deal; we think a lot of him....

(THE ANCESTORS _continue to leave their houses. An imposing and richly-dressed_ MAN _appears on the threshold of the fifteenth-century mansion_.)

TYLTYL

(_Pointing to him_.) And that one?

GAFFER TYL