“What say you, young man? Speak out; I’m very deaf.”
With a benignant smile Bladud said that he had merely asked who she was.
“Haven’t you got eyes, young man? Don’t you see that I’m a little old woman?”
“I see that,” returned the prince, with a good-humoured laugh; “and I fear you’re a deaf old woman, too.”
“Eh?” she said, advancing her head, with her hand up at the ear.
“You seem indeed to be extremely deaf,” shouted the prince.
“What does he say?” demanded the old woman, turning to the Hebrew.
By this time Beniah had recovered his self-possession. Perceiving that the maiden was bent on carrying out her rôle, and that he might as well help her, he put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted in a voice that bid fair to render her absolutely deaf—
“He says he thinks you are extremely deaf; so I think you had better hold your tongue and let us go on with our conversation.”
“Deaf, indeed!” returned the woman in a querulous tone; “so I am, though I hear you well enough when you shout like that. Perhaps he’ll be as deaf as I am when he’s as old. There’s nothing like youth for pride and impudence. But go on, never mind me.”