Mrs. Beetle. Pretty little innocence! I’d like to stay with you, but I must be going.
Mrs. Cricket. And I wanted to hear all about your children.
Mrs. Beetle. I don’t want to bother over no children. My pile, that ’s all I want, my pile!
Mrs. Cricket. Oh, what an old frump! I don’t wonder her husband’s run away from her. (Sings a snatch of the song) I’ve such a queer feeling. Snip! Snap! That ’s what he did to him—Snip!
Ichneumon fly enters.
Ichneumon Fly. Ha, ha! (He murders Mrs. Cricket and drags her to his lair.)
Tramp. Oh, murder!
Ichneumon Fly. Daughter, daughter! Chicken! (Singing) ‘Open your mouth and shut your eyes and see what some one’ll send you.’
Tramp. ’E ’s killed ’er, and I stood like a bloomin’ log! Didn’t utter a sound she didn’t and nobody ran to ’elp her!
Enter Parasite.
Parasite. Bravo! Comrade, just what I was thinking.
Tramp. To die—like that—so young, so ’elpless.
Parasite. Just what I was thinking. I was looking on all the time. I wouldn’t do a thing like that, you know. I wouldn’t really. Every one wants to live, don’t they?
Tramp. Who are you?
Parasite. I, oh nothing much, I’m a poor man, an orphan. They call me a parasite.
