COLONEL. ‘But I think that was only to please the nurse.’
BARBARA. ‘That nurse again! Dear, don’t think any more about it. There’s no wedding.’
COLONEL, gently, though he wonders why they can go on deceiving him, ‘Is there not?’
The village wedding bells begin to ring. The Colonel is triumphant. ‘I told you! There is a wedding!’
The bells ring on gaily. Billy and Barbara take a step nearer to each other, but can go no closer. The bells ring on, and the three young people fade from the scene.
When they are gone and he is alone, the Colonel still addresses them. ‘It’s Barbara’s wedding. Billy boy, why are you not at Barbara’s wedding?’
Soon the bells stop. He knows that he is alone now, but he does not understand it. The sun is shining brightly, but he sits very cold in his chair. He shivers. He is very glad to see his wife coming to him through the open window. She is a dear old lady, and is dressed brightly, as becomes one who has been to a wedding. Her face beams to match her gown. She is really quite a happy woman again, for it is several years since any deep sorrow struck her; and that is a long time. No one, you know, understands the Colonel as she does, no one can soothe him and bring him out of his imaginings as she can. He hastens to her. He is no longer cold. That is her great reward for all she does for him.
‘I have come back, John,’ she says, smiling tranquilly on him. ‘It hasn’t seemed very long, has it?’
‘No, not long, Ellen. Had you a nice walk?’
She continues to smile, but she is watching him closely. ‘I haven’t been for a walk. Don’t you remember where I told you I was going, John?’