LADY MARY (gaily). I sighted a herd near Penguin’s Creek, but had to creep round Silver Lake to get to windward of them. However, they spotted me and then the fun began. There was nothing for it but to try and run them down, so I singled out a fat buck and away we went down the shore of the lake, up the valley of rolling stones; he doubled into Brawling River and took to the water, but I swam after him; the river is only half a mile broad there, but it runs strong. He went spinning down the rapids, down I went in pursuit; he clambered ashore, I clambered ashore; away we tore helter-skelter up the hill and down again. I lost him in the marshes, got on his track again near Bread Fruit Wood, and brought him down with an arrow in Firefly Grove. TWEENY (staring at her). Aren’t you tired? LADY MARY. Tired! It was gorgeous. (She runs up a ladder and deposits her weapons on the joists. She is whistling again.) TWEENY (snapping). I can’t abide a woman whistling. LADY MARY (indifferently). I like it. TWEENY (stamping her foot). Drop it, Polly, I tell you. LADY MARY (stung). I won’t. I’m as good as you are. (They are facing each other defiantly.) ERNEST (shocked). Is this necessary? Think how it would pain him. (LADY MARY’s eyes take a new expression. We see them soft for the first time.) LADY MARY (contritely). Tweeny, I beg your pardon. If my whistling annoys you, I shall try to cure myself of it. (Instead of calming TWEENY, this floods her face in tears.) Why, how can that hurt you, Tweeny dear? TWEENY. Because I can’t make you lose your temper. LADY MARY (divinely). Indeed, I often do. Would that I were nicer to everybody. TWEENY. There you are again. (Wistfully.) What makes you want to be so nice, Polly? LADY MARY (with fervour). Only thankfulness, Tweeny. (She exults.) It is such fun to be alive. (So also seem to think CATHERINE and AGATHA, who bounce in with fishing-rods and creel. They, too, are in manly attire.) CATHERINE. We’ve got some ripping fish for the Gov.’s dinner. Are we in time? We ran all the way. TWEENY (tartly). You’ll please to cook them yourself, Kitty, and look sharp about it. (She retires to her hearth, where AGATHA follows her.) AGATHA (yearning). Has the Gov. decided who is to wait upon him to-day? CATHERINE (who is cleaning her fish). It’s my turn. AGATHA (hotly). I don’t see that. TWEENY (with bitterness). It’s to be neither of you, Aggy; he wants Polly again. (LADY MARY is unable to resist a joyous whistle.) AGATHA (jealously). Polly, you toad. (But they cannot make LADY MARY angry.) TWEENY (storming). How dare you look so happy? LADY MARY (willing to embrace her). I wish, Tweeny, there was anything I could do to make you happy also. TWEENY. Me! Oh, I’m happy. (She remembers ERNEST, whom it is easy to forget on an island.) I’ve just had a proposal, I tell you. (LADY MARY is shaken at last, and her sisters with her.) AGATHA. A proposal?