Miss Pipkin did not reply. The Captain, to reinforce his courage, stepped back into the dining-room. Miss Pipkin walked over and closed the door. This spurred the seaman to action. He cautiously pushed the door open again, and peeped through a narrow crack.
“Clemmie, be you in there?”
“Where else do you think I’d be, down the well?”
“Can’t I talk to you, Clemmie?”
“No. I don’t want you to come sneaking into my kitchen at this hour in the morning. You ought to be in bed.”
A note of friendliness in her voice led him to open the door a little wider.
“You’re up too early, Clemmie.”
“I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“If you ain’t too busy, I’d like awful well to speak to you about something.”