"What time do you have tea?" she inquired.
"Four o'clock," said he. "Sharp!"
"But it's a quarter to, now!" she exclaimed, pointing to a clock with weights at the end of brass chains and a long pendulum. "And didn't you say your servant was out?"
"Ay," he mysteriously lied. "Her's out. But her'll come back. Happen her's gone to get a bit o' fish or something."
"Fish! Do you always have fish for tea?"
"I have what I'm given," he replied. "I fancy a snack for my tea. Something tasty, ye know."
"Why," she said, "you're just like me. I adore tea. I'd sooner have tea than any other meal of the day. But I never yet knew a servant who could get something tasty every day. Of course, it's quite easy if you know how to do it; but servants don't—that is to say, as a rule—but I expect you've got a very good one."
"So-so!" James murmured.
"The trouble with servants is that they always think that if you like a thing one day you'll like the same thing every day for the next three years."
"Ay," he said, drily. "I used to like a kidney, but it's more than three years ago." He stuck his lips out, and raised himself higher than ever on his toes.