"How did you get it off from the wharf?"
"Like this," and bending over, he began to fumble with the strings of her nightcap, tying and untying until he tickled her throat and made her laugh irresistibly and push him away. "There was no knife," he said, "or I would have cut it."
"But you did wrong to take the blacksmith's boat."
Narcisse's face flushed, yet he was too happy to become annoyed with her. "When the Englishman is there, I am good, and my mother does not cry. Let him go back with me."
"And what shall I do?"
Narcisse was plainly embarrassed. At last he said, earnestly, "Remain, madame, with the black man, who will take care of you. When does the Englishman arrive?"
"I do not know; run away now, I want to dress."
"You have here a fine bathroom," said Narcisse, sauntering across the room to an open door. "When am I to have my bath?"
"Does your mother give you one every day?"
"Yes, madame, at night, before I go to bed. Do you not know the screen in our room, and the little tub, and the dish with the soap that smells so nice? I must scour myself hard in order to be clean."