Dialogue following No. 14

Enter HAROLD, now dressed as Colonel, followed by BLANCA.

HAROLD. Now, don’t worry me — I can’t attend to you now. I’ve the responsibility of a Regiment on my shoulders, and I’ve no time to listen to chatterboxes. If you’ve anything to say, mention it to the Sergeant-Major.

BLANCA. The Sergeant-Major? Oh, very good — only if I tell the Sergeant-Major what I was going to tell you, the Sergeant-Major’ll do something affectionate, that’s all. (Going.)

HAROLD. Stop! Now you are not going to say anything to the Sergeant-Major that will unsettle him and make him neglect his duties?

BLANCA. Only his Regimental duties. Not the others.

HAROLD. Oh! It would be a pity to unsettle the Sergeant-Major. Well, what was it you were going to say?

BLANCA (nestling up against him). Only this, dear — that this sudden rise — dear — from corporal to colonel at one step — dear — is more like fiction than fact, isn’t it, dear?

HAROLD. Is that all? Cut out the “dears,” and I don’t think it’ll hurt him. But, as you say, it is remarkable.

BLANCA. What a novel it would make!

HAROLD. A three-volume novel! So it would. Let’s write it together.

BLANCA. Very well — you begin.

HAROLD. Now, let me see —