BLUE HOSE. I like it not at all. It makes me dizzy, this eminence on which they have placed us. The Lady Violetta is slim and fair. She does not, in my opinion, look like the kind of person who is capable of making good pastry. I have discovered through long experience that it is the heaviest women who make the lightest pastry, and _vice versa._ Well, then, suppose that she does not pass this examination--suppose that her pastry is lumpy, white like the skin of a boiled fowl. YELLOW HOSE. Then, according to the law of the Kingdom of Hearts, we must condemn it, and the Lady Violetta cannot become the bride of Pompdebile. Back to her native land she will be sent, riding a mule. BLUE HOSE. And she is so pretty, so exquisite! What a law! What an outrageous law! YELLOW HOSE. Outrageous law! How dare you! There is nothing so necessary to the welfare of the nation as our art. Good cooks make good tempers, don't they? Must not the queen set an example for the other women to follow? Did not our fathers and our grandfathers before us judge the dishes of the previous queens of hearts? BLUE HOSE. I wish I were mixing the rolls for to-morrow's breakfast. YELLOW HOSE. Bah! You are fit for nothing else. The affairs of state are beyond you. (_Distant sound of trumpets._) BLUE HOSE (_nervously_). What's that? YELLOW HOSE. The King is approaching! The ceremonies are about to commence! BLUE HOSE. Is everything ready? YELLOW HOSE. I told you that everything was ready. Stand still; you are as white as a stalk of celery. BLUE HOSE (_counting on his fingers_). Apples, lemons, peaches, jam--Jam! Did you forget jam? YELLOW HOSE. Zounds, I did! BLUE HOSE (_wailing_). We are lost! YELLOW HOSE. She may not call for it. (_Both stand very erect and make a desperate effort to appear calm._) BLUE HOSE (_very nervous_). Which door? Which door? YELLOW HOSE. The big one, idiot. Be still! (_The sound of trumpets increases, and cries of "Make way for the King." Two_ HERALDS _come in and stand on either side of the door. The_ KING OF HEARTS _enters, followed by ladies and gentlemen of the court._ POMPDEBILE _is in full regalia, and very imposing indeed with his red robe bordered with ermine, his crown and sceptre. After him comes the_ CHANCELLOR, _an old man with a short, white beard. The_ KING _strides in a particularly kingly fashion, pointing his toes in the air at every step, toward his throne, and sits down. The_ KNAVE _walks behind him slowly. He has a sharp, pale face._)