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 That's not to be wondered at: he's been dead these fifty-seven years. TYLTYL (_Sweeping the floor lustily_.) Perhaps I had better put on my Sunday clothes? MUMMY TYL No, you needn't; you're all right as you are. We'll just lay the white tablecloth.... Besides, there's no time now; here they come; I can hear them walking up the path. (_A knock at the door_. MUMMY TYL _opens it. Enter_ THE NEIGHBOUR _and_ JOY, _followed by_ DADDY TYL, _with his axe on his shoulder_.) DADDY TYL (_Calling out from the threshold_.) Here they are! Here they are! THE NEIGHBOUR Yes, it's Joy and I, Madame Tyl.... Good-morning, a Merry Christmas and good luck to everybody, as my poor husband used to say when he was alive. I'm glad to see you looking so well.... And these are the children? Don't tell me that this great, big, pretty girl is Mytyl? And can that be Tyltyl, that strapping young fellow who looks so smart? MUMMY TYL