Mrs. West smiled vaguely, finding it a little difficult to follow her daughter along these paths of ultra-modernism.
"You see, if Sir Lyster says to me 'go,' I have to go," continued Dorothy, "and if he says to me 'come,' I have to come; but if he says to John Dene 'go,' he just says 'shucks.'"
"Says what, Dorothy?"
"Shucks!" she repeated with a laugh, "it means go to—well, you know, mother."
"And does he say that to Sir Lyster?" enquired Mrs. West in awe-struck voice.
Dorothy nodded vigorously.
"The only one that seems to understand him is Sir Bridgman North, and he never stands on his dignity, you know. If I were in the Navy," said Dorothy meditatively, "I should like to be under Sir Bridgman, he's really rather a dear."
"But why do——" began Mrs. West, "why does Sir Lyster allow——"
"Allow," broke in Dorothy. "It doesn't matter what you allow with John Dene. If you agree with him he just grunts; if you don't he says 'shucks,' or else he questions whether you've got any head-filling."
"Any what?" asked Mrs. West.