Alice Sit-By-The-Fire

by J. M. Barrie

ALICE. ‘Oh, Amy, oh.’

AMY. ‘By your—your callousness—your want of sympathy—your neglect.’

ALICE. ‘My beloved child.’

COLONEL, uneasily, ‘Alice, tell her it isn’t so.’

ALICE. ‘You hear what he says, my pet.’

AMY. ‘But you don’t deny it.’

COLONEL. ‘Deny it, woman.’

ALICE. ‘Robert, Robert.’

AMY. ‘And please not to call my mother “woman” in my presence.’

COLONEL. ‘I—I—I——’ He looks for help from Alice, but she gives him only a twinkle of triumph. He barks, ‘Child, go to your room.’