amalia. it's amalia. yes, it is. pretty polly. who's that? is there a parrot in the room? i don't see one. is it jacob? it's a ghost. jacob. i'm frightened. this is a sort of thing i've been concealing. funny man. oh, god, almighty. what? who is it? is it jacob? my name is jacob. oh, and my name is amalia. no. no. no, oh, my god. oh, this is the way i look now. that is the way i used to look. oh, one lives and learns. i spend most of my time in that cupboard to avoid seeing people and being seen. what are you looking for here, jacob? my child, our child. oh, she is sitting in there. where? in there, in the hyacinth room. yes, there she is. does her father know, i mean the colonel, your husband? well, i lost my temper with him once and told him everything. yes? oh, he didn't believe me. he said, that's what all wives say when they want to murder their husbands. oh, it was a beastly thing to do. but his life is a lie too, though. even his pedigree, when i look at the list of nobility, i think to myself, she's got a birth certificate like a little kitchen slut. you can go to