"She must have picked up a good deal on The Night Moth," observed Maud unexpectedly.
He glanced at her again. "Why do you say that? She was under my protection—and Larpent's—on The Night Moth."
"I know. She idolizes you," Maud smiled at him somewhat dubiously. "But she must have mixed fairly freely with the crew to have picked up the really amazing language she sometimes uses."
Saltash's brows worked whimsically. "Some of us have a gift that way," he remarked. "Your worthy Jake, for instance—"
"Oh, Jake is a reformed character," she interrupted. "He hardly ever lets himself go now-a-days. And he won't allow it from Bunny. But Toby—Toby never seems to know the good from the bad."
"Has Jake taken her in hand?" asked Saltash with a chuckle.
"Oh yes. He checks her at every turn. I must say she takes it very sweetly, even offered to take her meals in her room yesterday when he was rather down on her. It absolutely disarmed Jake of course. What could he say?"
"Yes, she's a disarming monkey certainly," agreed Saltash. "But I never was great on the management and discipline of children. So she knocks under to the great Jake, does she?"
"Oh, not entirely." Maud laughed a little. "Only this morning they had a battle. I don't know how it is going to end yet. But—she can be very firm."
"She never tried any battles with me," said Saltash, with some complacence.