AMY, knowing so well that she alone can put this matter right, ‘Mother, don’t answer.’
STEVE. ‘If I could see Alice alone for a moment, Colonel—’
ALICE. ‘Yes.’
COLONEL. ‘No. Good heavens, what are you all concealing? Is Amy—my Amy—your elderly lady, Steve? Was that some tasteful little joke you were playing on your old friend, her father?’
STEVE. ‘Colonel, I—’
AMY, preparing for the great sacrifice, ‘I forbid him to speak.’
COLONEL. ‘You forbid him.’
ALICE. ‘Robert, Robert, let me explain. Steve—’
AMY. ‘Mother, you must not, you dare not.’
Grandly, ‘Let all fall on me. It is not true, father, that Mr. Rollo and I were strangers when you introduced us.’