(Just at this dangerous crisis a low rumbling is heard, distant and then near. Impossible to tell whether it comes from the horizon, or arises in the house itself. All three lose interest in the quarrel.
TOBY-DOG and KIKI-THE-DEMURE slink away, as if responding to a signal, and seek shelter, one under the bookcase and the other under an armchair. SHE turns anxiously to the leaden-hued garden, and the great violet bank of cloud, which of a sudden is riven by a blinding streak of blue fire.)
SHE,TOBY-DOG, KIKI-THE-DEMURE, (all together)
Oh!
(A sudden crash shakes the windows, and instantly a great rush of wind envelopes the house, with a noise as of flapping canvas:—all the garden prostrates itself.)
SHE, (in anguish)
Heavens! the apples!
TOBY-DOG, (invisible)