Conachúr looked at her quizzically.
“The girl does not know that I was coming?”
Lavarcham pursed her lips.
“I have not mentioned it to her.”
The king, with his elbow on his knee, continued to regard her mockingly.
“Is it that you are careful or careless, my friend?”
“I am careful, master. I am always careful,” she replied.
“But,” he continued gently, “she will not be apparelled so as to be looked on by a visitor.”
“She will be seen as she would be seen any hour of any day, and thus it will be known, master, that Lavarcham does her duty.”
“You are the wonder of Emania,” said Conachúr. “I hear a step,” he continued, and, removing his elbow from his knee, he stretched out a great leg and turned towards the door.