“She is Mistress Ursula Drew, that is over me and Parnel.”
“Doth she cleanse pans?” said the lady smilingly.
“Nay, verily! She biddeth us.”
“I see—she is queen of the kitchen. And is there none over her?”
“Ay, Master Warine.”
“And who is over Master Warine?”
A question beyond little Maude’s power to answer.
“The King must be, of force,” said she meditatively. “But who is else—saving his gracious mastership and our Lady her mistresshood—in good sooth I wis not.”
The lady looked at her for a minute with a smile on her lips. Then, a little to Maude’s surprise, she clapped her hands. A handsomely attired woman—to the child’s eyes, the counterpart of the lady who had been talking with her—appeared in the doorway.
“Señora!” she said, with a reverence.