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?'