goose. They are not very grand ones, Cosmo.'

COSMO, true blue, 'Yes, they are.'

An awkward silence falls. The Colonel has so much to say that he can
only look it. He looks it so eloquently that Cosmo's fears return. He
summons the plan to his help.

'I wonder what is in the evening papers. If you don't mind, I'll cut
out and get one.'

Before he can cut out, however, Alice is in the room, the picture of
distress. No wonder, for even we can hear the baby howling.

ALICE, tragically, 'My baby. Robert, listen; that is how I affect
her.'

Cosmo cowers unseen.

COLONEL. 'No, no, darling, it isn't you who have made her cry. She--she
is teething. It's her teeth, isn't it?' he barks at the nurse, who
emerges looking not altogether woeful. 'Say it's her teeth, woman.'

NURSE, taking this as a reflection on her charge. 'She had her teeth
long ago.'

ALICE, the forlorn, 'The better to bite me with.'

NURSE, complacently, 'I don't understand it. She is usually the
best-tempered lamb--as you may see for yourself, sir.'