The second act opens in the farm-house, where the four have arrived.
The farmers inquire their names, and seek to find out what they can
do, testing them first at the spinning-wheel. The spinning quartet
("When the Foot the Wheel turns lightly") is very gay and full of
humor, and is one of the most delightful concerted numbers in the
opera. The brothers soon find that their new servants are useless, but
they are so pleased with them that they decide to keep them. At last
Nancy, in a pet, kicks her wheel over and runs off, followed by
Plunkett. Lionel, left alone with Martha, grows very tender to the new
servant, and at last finds himself violently in love. He snatches a
rose from her bosom, and refuses to return it unless she will consent
to sing. She replies with the familiar ballad, "'Tis the last Rose of
Summer," which Flotow has interpolated in this scene, and in the
performance of which he makes a charming effect by introducing the
tenor in the close. Her singing only makes him the more desperately
enamoured, and he asks her to be his wife on the spot, only to find
himself the victim of Martha's sport, although his devotion and
sincerity have made a deep impression upon her. Plunkett and Nancy at
last return, and another charming quartet follows ("Midnight sounds"),
better known as the "Good Night Quartet." The two brothers retire, but
Martha and Nancy, aided by Tristan, who has followed them and
discovered their whereabouts, make good their escape. The next scene
opens in the woods, where several farmers are drinking and carousing,
among them Plunkett, who sings a rollicking drinking-song ("I want to
ask you"). Their sport is interrupted by a hunting-party, composed of
the Queen and her court ladies. Plunkett and Lionel recognize their
fugitive servants among them, though the ladies disclaim all knowledge
of them. Plunkett attempts to seize Nancy, but the huntresses attack
him and chase him away, leaving Lionel and Lady Henrietta together
again. The scene contains two of the most beautiful numbers in the