[Enter Virginia.]

Kelpies—­
  Virginia, come and play with us awhile;
  Come, be our queen and on our revels smile. 
  Or if we may but help you o’er the stream,
  Our labours shall a moment’s frolic seem.

Virginia—­
  Kelpies, too long you’ve roamed on mischief bent: 
  Too long you’ve made the sky your nightly tent. 
  I’ve oft been warned to shun your careless way
  And from your pranks and revels warned to stay. 
  I dare not try to cross the swollen tide
  Unless some stronger arm is close beside.

[Paolo approaches]

  Permit my arm to be this guide and stay: 
  Pray give me leave to help you on your way.

Virginia—­
  Kind sir, if you will take me by the hand,
  I’ll thank you to assist to that far strand. 
  No—­Don’t you lift me up—­I didn’t mean—­
  Well—­If you must—­

[Carried over]

  How strong your arms have been.

Paolo—­
  Virginia, did I hear the kelpies say? 
  Yes, that’s my name.  What is your own, I pray? 
  Call me Paolo, and if I may be
  Of any further help fair maid to thee,
  Allow me to attend you on your way.

Virginia—­
  Thank you, I need no further help to-day.

[Exit Virginia.]

Kelpies—­
  Join with us, dance with us, prance with us
  Over the sea. 
  Roam with us, flee with us, be with us
  Where we may be.

Paolo, turning from looking after Virginia—­
  I’m in no mood to join your frolics now;
  Perhaps some other day you’ll show me how
  You ride the combers on the ocean swell. 
  I must be going now, Kelpies farewell.

SCENE II.

WINTER LANDSCAPE

[Paolo wandering disconsolate on snowshoes—­Frosties bobbing up and down behind bushes and snowdrifts.]

Paolo—­
  What goblins, what strange forms are these I see? 
  I thought the haunts of men and sprites to flee
  And far from every human habitation
  Find solace for my grief mid desolation.

  Stand forth yon elf and speak, that I may know
  These are no tricks that on my fancies grow.

[Frosties all dance out on the snow—­Master Frosty steps forward with greeting:]

M. F.—­
  I’m the master of the Frosties’ band,
  On outpost duty from the Arctic land;
  You need not fear,
  ’Tis friends are here. 
  Your lonely sorrow we can understand,
  And would in sympathy just clasp your hand. 
  If for your grief
  You find relief
  In telling us the cause of all your woe,
  Your confidence we will respect, I know;
  And we’ll be true
  As skies are blue.

Paolo—­
  It is a story of a winsome maid
  That yester eve across my pathway strayed. 
  That I was shy I can’t deny;
  But if it will not weary you to hear,
  I’ll try and tell you what I found so dear,
  When o’er a stream
  As in a dream
  I helped Virginia to the further shore,
  And lost my heart to her for evermore.