Dora. } I beg your pardon. (Both trembling.)
Col. }
Dora. It’s nothing.
Col. Nothing, quite so.
(Dora sits on music stool. As she does so, both leave hold of the book and it falls again.)
Dora. I thought you had the book.
Col. (Picking it up.) And I thought you had it, and it appears that neither of us had it. Ha! ha! (Aside.) Fool that I am! (Dora sits thoughtfully, Colonel bending over her; a pause.) Won’t you play something?
Dora. I don’t know how to play.
Col. Oh, well, play the other one. (They resume their attitudes; a pause.) The weather has been very warm today, has it not?
Dora. Very.
Col. Looks like thunder to me.