For a minute we looked at each other without sayin' anything; I didn't know what upon airth to say. At last she spoke, quite calm, in a deep, strange voice, almost like a man's, but powerful sweet.
"What seek you," she said, "slave?"
Well, that was a queer beginnin', you see, Dolly, and didn't help me much. But I managed to say, "My dog come in, and I followed him—to see what he was barkin' at."
"He was barkin' at me," said the woman. "Bow down before me, slave! I am the Queen!"
And she made a sign with her hand, so commandin'-like that I made a bow, the best way I could. But, of course, I saw then that the poor creature was out of her mind, and I thought 't would be best to humor her, seein' as I had come in without an invitation, as you may say.
"Do you—do you live here, ma'am?" I asked, very polite.
"Your Majesty!" says she, holdin' up her head, and lookin' at me as if I was dirt under her feet.
"Do you live here, your Majesty?" I asked again.
"I am stayin' here," she said. "I am waitin' for the King, who is comin' for me soon. You did not meet him, slave, on your way hither?"
"What king was your Majesty meanin'?" says I.