She made no answer.
'Do you want to be treated as you deserve, or will you speak, you hussy?' said the first woman-cook. 'I would fain know what right you have to put on a face like that!'
'You won't believe me,' said the girl.
'Of course not. What is it?'
'I must tell you, whether you believe me or not,' she said.
'Of course you must.'
'It is this, then: if you do not repent of your bad ways, you are all going to be punished—all turned out of the palace together.'
'A mighty punishment!' said the butler. 'A good riddance, say I, of the trouble of keeping minxes like you in order! And why, pray, should we be turned out? What have I to repent of now, your holiness?'
'That you know best yourself,' said the girl.
'A pretty piece of insolence! How should I know, forsooth, what a menial like you has got against me! There are people in this house—oh! I'm not blind to their ways!—but every one for himself, say I! Pray, Miss judgement, who gave you such an impertinent message to His Majesty's household?'