STEVE, looking things unutterable, ‘How could I help coming?’
AMY, to the rescue, ‘Mother, have you—did you?’
ALICE, meekly, ‘I have told him all.’
STEVE. ‘The Colonel?’
Alice bows her bruised head.
AMY, conducting her to a seat, ‘Brave, brave. What has he decided?’
ALICE. ‘He hasn’t decided yet. He is thinking out what it will be best to do.’
STEVE. ‘He knows? Then I am no longer—’ His unfinished sentence seems to refer to Amy.
AMY, proudly, ‘Yes, sir, as he knows, you are, as far as I am concerned, now free.’
GINEVRA, in a murmur, ‘It’s almost a pity.’ She turns to her Amy. ‘At least, Amy, this makes you and me friends again.’ We have never quite been able to understand what this meant, but Amy knows, for she puts Ginevra’s hand to her sweet lips.