blue fire_.)

SHE, TOBY-DOG, KIKI-THE-DEMURE, (_all together_)

Oh!

(_A sudden crash shakes the windows, and instantly a great rush of wind
envelopes the house, with a noise as of flapping canvas:--all the garden
prostrates itself_.)

SHE, (_in anguish_)

Heavens! the apples!

TOBY-DOG, (_invisible_)

I'll let them cut my ears into strips rather than leave this
hiding-place!

KIKI-THE-DEMURE, (_invisible_)

I can't help hearing, and it's as if I saw everything that's going on.
She hastens to close the windows. Someone is running on the stairs. Aïe!
Another awful flame--and everything is falling in! Silence now.... I
wonder are they all dead? I'll look through the fringes of the chair,
though it's risking my life to do so. Ah, hailstones making holes in
the leaves! Here comes the rain, in silvery drops, wide apart, and so
heavy that the gravel wrinkles up when they fall.

SHE, (_heart-broken_)