The Betrothal Part 28

TYLTYL

(_Waking with a start_.) Who's there?

MUMMY TYL

(_Behind the door_.) It's me!... Open the door quickly!... We're expecting a visitor....

TYLTYL

Wait, wait, till I slip on my breeches.... (_Rising and seeing with amazement that he is dressed_.) Hullo, I've gone to bed with my clothes on! How did I come to do that?...

(_He opens the door. Enter_ MUMMY TYL _fussily, carrying a bundle of sticks_.)

MUMMY TYL

Quick, quick!... Help me light the fire and tidy the room.... Go and wake up Mytyl.... They'll be here in a minute.

TYLTYL

(_Doing his best to help her_.) Who's "they"?

MUMMY TYL

Of course, you don't know. Daddy Tyl met them yesterday, but you had gone to bed.... Do open the shutters, I can't see what I'm doing....

(TYLTYL _opens the shutters and the daylight floods the room_.) And call Mytyl, so that she can help me to get things straight.... What a mess!... And the dust! I can't let them see my house like this. (_Enter_ MYTYL.)

TYLTYL

Hullo, there Mytyl is!... But you haven't told me....

MUMMY TYL

(_To_ MYTYL.) The fire's beginning to burn up.... You make the coffee, while I start cleaning.... What's this? More cabbage leaves under the tap!

MYTYL

It's not my fault. Tyltyl promised me....

MUMMY TYL

Well, I never! A nice thing!... It's a blessing that I came to look for myself!... Take the broom, Tyltyl, while I give a rub to the plates and put them away.

TYLTYL

But look here: who's coming? Is it the Shah of Persia or the Emperor of China?

MUMMY TYL

Much better than that. You'll never guess.... Do you remember our neighbour?

MYTYL

What neighbour?

MUMMY TYL

There aren't so many of 'em.... The one with the pretty little pink house, by the road-side, and a garden full of sunflowers and hollyhocks.

TYLTYL

Of course!... And they had a little girl to whom I gave my dove?

MUMMY TYL

That's right.

TYLTYL

They've been gone a long time.

MUMMY TYL

Five or six years, that's all. They went to the town to live with the girl's uncle. He was a widower, with no children of his own, and has died and left them all his money. They told Daddy Tyl they're coming back here for good, going into their nice little house again. It belonged to little Joy's uncle.

TYLTYL

Little Joy?

MUMMY TYL

Yes, yes, you know: that's the little girl's name. They used to call her Jojo when she was small; but her name is Joy. Daddy Tyl met her last night, says that he could hardly believe his eyes, that she's taller than you and beautiful ... well, there! With hair like gold, real gold!

That's worth thinking about.... So I want the house tidy and all of us to look decent and respectable.... You can never tell what may happen.

We're of good stock too. Your grandfather's father was a pork-butcher.

TYLTYL

It's curious, I didn't meet him.

MUMMY TYL

Whom?

TYLTYL

My grandfather's father.

MUMMY TYL