“Kate has not got measles. She’s got a cold compress, and she’s got the entire contents of the plate-chest to clean. And when she’s finished that, I’ll find her something else. If she thinks she can’t work sitting down, she will discover that she is mistaken.”
“Wait a minute. I’ve got a joke. A real one this time. Dot with a swollen knee. We shall have to call her Dot-and-go-one. See? Well, why don’t you laugh? I must go into the kitchen and tell them at once.”
Mabel sighed deeply. There were simply no words for him. He was right away outside, beyond the limit. In a few minutes he came back again.
“It certainly does look very pink,” he said.
“That’s the effect of the cold compress. Though why on earth you should——”
“I didn’t mean the knee, I meant the parasol. I’ll swear I did.”
“Well, whatever you meant, I wish you would keep out of the kitchen. I wish you wouldn’t address the servants by nicknames. I wish you wouldn’t be so abominably familiar with them.”
“Familiar? Well, hang it all, when a poor girl’s got a swollen knee it’s unfriendly not to show a little sympathy. It does no harm. I just chatted her on the peak——”
“You——?”
“As I said, I just patted her on the cheek, and asked her how she was getting on. No harm in that.”