"I beg your pardon, Ma'am, but I cannot think of stopping with you, Ma'am, if any one else, Ma'am, is to be put above me, or take my place."
Hargrave was proceeding, in increased agitation and heat, when Gatty interrupted the business by repeated peals of laughter.
"Pray, pray, Gertrude, refrain, how very unladylike; you laugh like a great cow-boy," said Madame.
"I like Gatty's laughs, they are so merry," said Oscar, "but what are you laughing at?"
"Why at Hargrave to be sure, giving warning here, on this desert island."
"Who will you go to, Hargrave, if you leave your present mistress? The Duchess of Puddleduck? Lady Ape? or Baroness Shark? Ha! ha! my dear girls, did you ever hear anything so absurd?"
"Indeed, Miss Gertrude, I wonder at your manners to a poor servant like me, but I am not going to be put upon any how."
"And who was going to put upon you, my good woman? I meant nothing but that we must all help each other, and that there was no occasion for you to wait upon me as heretofore, while we are in this island."
Slightly mollified, she grumbled out "That it was certainly no use plaiting one's hair in such a place."
"Now, Schillie, what charge will you take?"