"Oh, please don't talk in that humble way! It's ridiculous! I'd rather have you absolutely impertinent, I declare upon my honor I would. Don't you remember how you talked when you wore the red feather? Well, I liked it."
Baldos laughed easily, happily. His heart was not very humble, though his voice and manner were.
"Red is the color of insolence, you mean."
"It's a good deal jauntier than blue," she declared.
"Before you call the bearers, Miss—your highness, I wish to retract something I said awhile ago," he said very seriously.
"I should think you would," she responded, utterly misinterpreting his intent.
"You asked me to tell you what my message to Ravone contained and I refused. Subsequently the extent of his message to me led us into a most thorough understanding. It is only just and right that you should know what I said to him."
"I trust you, Baldos," she protested simply.
"That is why I tell this to you. Yesterday, your highness, the castle guard received their month's pay. You may not know how well we are paid, so I will say that it is ten gavvos to each. The envelope which I gave to Ravone contained my wages for the past six weeks. They need it far more than I do. There was also a short note of good cheer to those poor comrades of mine, and the assurance that one day our luck may change and starvation be succeeded by plenty. And, still more, I told him that I knew you to be Miss Calhoun and that you were my angel of inspiration. That was all, your highness."
"Thank you, Baldos, for telling me," she said softly. "You have made me ashamed of myself."