'Then why don't you wait till she is awake, slowhead? as usual. It is not eight o'clock yet.'
'H'also that she 'as no h'intentions of h'ever waking h'up, sir.'
So Mr. Falkirk took his breakfast with a dissatisfied mind. For it is safe to say, he was so accustomed by this time to his gay little ward's company and ministrations, that coffee was not coffee without her. Gotham did his duty in a more than usually taciturn fashion, and Mr. Falkirk's breakfast was at an end before the factotum unburdened his mind.
'Beg pardon, sir,' he said, drawing himself up behind his master; 'but 'ow are your h'orders concerning Miss 'Azel to be h'understood, sir?'
'Orders?' said Mr. Falkirk.
'You distinctly said and h'indicated, sir, that I was to drive
Mis 'Azel to and from, sir,—if my mind serves me,' said
Gotham.
'And if my mind serves me, you have driven her forty times.'
'Quite correct, sir,—and more,' said Gotham. 'The point h'is, Mr. Falkirk, what's to be done when young gents come taking the h'orders h'out of my very 'ands, sir?'
'Knock 'em down.'
'The first natural h'impulse, sir. But put a case that they're in the knockin' down style too?—then I'm left in the road, and Miss 'Azel without a protector.'