"We were prompt in getting the people away."
"Prompt! Excellent word! Dear goddesses, your good countrymen were prompt at running away."
He gave Jasper an exasperatingly roguish look.
"I have heard of no running away. There seem plenty of people in Eastbourne."
"The panic was soon put out here, Meester Benham. But I rode fifteen miles before I came to Eastbourne this morning. You should have seen the roads, sir. People running away with their pans and kettles and cash-boxes on their backs. It was like the rout of an army."
"They had been ordered to go inland. The French would have found the stem stuff ready for them, even if they had survived the mal de mer."
"You are facetious, Meester Benham."
"I echo you, Chevalier."
"It is my privilege to amuse the ladies."
"We have often amused ourselves at the expense of the French."