could land here and here and--

[_The door opens and the_ PRIME MINISTER _enters. He is a
stern, titanic figure in the sixties, sallow-skinned, gray-haired._


PRIME MINISTER

[_Standing in the doorway._

Good evening, gentlemen. Counting your battalions?


CHIEF OF STAFF

[_Absorbed._

And here, joining our armies at--


MINISTER OF WAR

Thank God, you're here. Where in sin have you been?


PRIME MINISTER

Home on my estates, saying good-bye to my family.

[_He smiles grimly, and with his cane makes a thrust in carte and