AMY. ‘If she should come while he is here!’ RICHARDSON. ‘Come along, Miss. What’s the matter?’ AMY. ‘I can’t go away. I am not going.’ She darts into the cupboard. It is as if she had heard Ginevra cry, ‘Amy, the cupboard.’ RICHARDSON, tugging at the closed door, ‘Come out of that. I promised to put you on the upper landing. You can’t go hiding in there, lady.’ AMY, peeping out, ‘I can and I will. Let go the door. I came here expecting to have to hide.’ She closes the door as her father enters with Steve. The Colonel is chatting, but his host sees that Richardson is in distress. STEVE, who thinks that the lady has been got rid of, ‘What is it?’ RICHARDSON. ‘Would you speak with me a minute, sir?’ STEVE, pointedly, ‘Go away. You have some work to do on the stair. Go and do it. I’m sorry, Colonel, that you didn’t bring Alice with you.’ COLONEL. ‘She is coming on later.’ STEVE. ‘Good.’ COLONEL. ‘I have come from Pall Mall. Wanted to look in at the club once more, so I had a chop there.’ RICHARDSON, with the old sinking, ‘A chop!’ She departs with her worst suspicions confirmed. STEVE, as they pull their chairs nearer to the fire, ‘Is Alice coming on from home?’ COLONEL. ‘Yes, that’s it.’ He stretches out his legs. ‘Steve, home is the best club in the world. Such jolly fellows all the members!’ STEVE. ‘You haven’t come here to talk about your confounded baby again, have you?’ COLONEL, apologetically, ‘If you don’t mind.’ STEVE. ‘I do mind.’ COLONEL. ‘But if you feel you can stand it.’ STEVE. ‘You are my guest, so go ahead.’ COLONEL. ‘She fell asleep, Steve, holding my finger.’ STEVE. ‘Which finger?’ COLONEL. ‘This one. As Alice would say, Soldiering done, baby begun.’ STEVE. ‘Poor old chap.’ COLONEL. ‘I have been through a good deal in my time, Steve, but that is the biggest thing I have ever done.’ STEVE. ‘Have a cigar?’ COLONEL. ‘Brute! Thanks.’ Here Amy, who cannot hear when the door is closed, opens it slightly. The Colonel is presently aware that Steve is silently smiling to himself. The Colonel makes a happy guess. ‘Thinking of the ladies, Steve?’ STEVE, blandly, ‘To tell the truth, I _was_ thinking of one.’ COLONEL. ‘She seems to be a nice girl.’ STEVE. ‘She is not exactly a girl.’ COLONEL, twinkling, ‘Very fond of you, Steve?’ STEVE. ‘I have the best of reasons for knowing that she is.’ We may conceive Amy’s feelings though we cannot see her. ‘On my soul, Colonel, I think it is the most romantic affair I ever heard of. I have waited long for a romance to come into my life, but by Javers, it has come at last.’ COLONEL. ‘Graters, Steve. Does her family like it?’ STEVE, cheerily, ‘No, they are furious.’ COLONEL. ‘But why?’ STEVE, judiciously, ‘A woman’s secret, Colonel.’ COLONEL. ‘Ah, the plot thickens. Do I know her?’ STEVE. ‘Not you.’ COLONEL. ‘I mustn’t ask her name?’ STEVE, with presence of mind, ‘I have a very good reason for not telling you her name.’