[_They rise and take seats at the table_.
SWANWHITE. [_Holding out one of her little fingers_] Can you see anything?
PRINCE. What do I see? Your hand is red within, and through it all the world and life itself appear in rosy colouring----
SWANWHITE. Now pull the splinter out--ooh, it hurts!
PRINCE. But I shall have to hurt you, too--and ask your pardon in advance!
PRINCE. [_Squeezing her little finger and pulling out the splinter with his nails_] There is the cruel little thing that dared to do you harm.
SWANWHITE. Now you must suck the blood to keep the wound from festering.
PRINCE. [_Sucking the blood from her finger_] I've drunk your blood--and so I am your foster-brother now.
SWANWHITE. My foster-brother--so you were at once--or how do you think I could have talked to you as I have done?
PRINCE. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you?
SWANWHITE. Just think, he didn't notice it!--And now I have got a brother of my own, and that is you!--My little brother--take my hand!
PRINCE. [_Taking her hand_] My little sister! [_Feels her pulse beating under his thumb_] What have you there, that's ticking--one, and two, and three, and four----? _Continues to count silently after having looked at his watch_.
SWANWHITE. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks--so steady, steady, steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast--Put your hand here, and you can feel it too. [_The doves begin to stir and coo_] What is it, little white ones?
PRINCE. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking--it is the time! Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within the watch?
SWANWHITE. [_Handling the watch_] We cannot reach the inside of the watch--no more than of the heart--Just feel my heart!
SIGNE. [_Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts down on the table_] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at opposite sides of the table.
_The_ PRINCE _sits down at the opposite end of the table. He and_ SWANWHITE _look at each other in silence for a while_.
SWANWHITE. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before.
PRINCE. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other.