(_Gives a little shiver._) He's touching me, he's touching me! But somehow I feel so sleepy I can't move. TOPSY. (_She moves on towards the next flower: BELLE does not allow her to disengage her hand at once._) What a curious smell this one has! ASTON. Be careful, be careful! That's the chloroform plant. TOPSY. Oh, I feel quite dizzy and faint. That smell and the heat . . . (_She almost falls: ASTON puts out his arm and holds her up._) ASTON. Poor child! CAIN. Poh chile, poh chile! (_He hovers round her, his hands almost touching her, trembling with excitement: his white eyeballs roll horribly._) ASTON. I'll open the door. The air will make you feel better. (_He opens the conservatory door, still supporting TOPSY with his right arm. The wind is heard, fearfully whistling: a flurry of snow blows into the conservatory. The flowers utter piercing screams of rage and fear; their lights flicker wildly; several turn perfectly black and drop on to the floor writhing in agony. The floral octopus agitates its tentacles; the twangum blooms drip blood; all the leaves of all the trees clap together with a dry, scaly sound._) TOPSY. (_Faintly._) Thank you; that's better. ASTON. (_Closing the door._) Poor child! Come and sit down again; the chloroform flower is a real danger. (_Much moved, he leads her back towards the seat._) CAIN. (_Executes a war dance round the seated couple._) Poh chile, poh chile! Nyum nyum nyum. SIR JASPER. One perceives the well-known dangers of playing the Good Samaritan towards an afflicted member of the opposite sex. Pity has touched even our good Cain to tears. BELLE. Oh, I wonder what's going to happen! It's so exciting. I'm so glad Henrika's gone to sleep. TOPSY. It was silly of me to go all faint like that. ASTON. I ought to have warned you in time of the chloroform flower. BELLE. But it's such a lovely feeling now--like being in a very hot bath with lots of verbena bath-salts, and hardly able to move with limpness, but just ever so comfortable and happy. ASTON. How do you feel now? I'm afraid you're looking very pale. Poor child! CAIN. Poh chile, poh chile! . . . SIR JASPER. I don't know much about these things, but it seems to me, my dear Aston, that the moment has decidedly arrived. ASTON. I'm so sorry. You poor little thing . . . (_He kisses her very gently on the forehead._) BELLE. A--a--h. HENRIKA. Oh! He kissed me: but he's so kind and good, so kind and good. (_She stirs and falls back again into her drowsy trance._) CAIN.