"What did she say to you?"
"Why, your honour, when I went in she looked at me and burst into a laugh that turned my blood cold."
"She didn't know you to be the man that gave her the letter that brought her here?"
"She didn't look as if she remembered me, your honour, and she said nothing about it."
"What did she say?"
"Why, your honour, she says whilst I hold the tray, 'What are you?' 'I'm the ship's steward, your ledyship,' says I. 'Ay, but what else?' says she. 'What forest was you caught in?' I didn't understand her, sir, and didn't answer. 'Do you come from Africa?' says she, 'or have you broke loose from a travelling wild beast show?'"
Mr Lawrence arched his eyebrows. Certainly he did not recognise the sweet and sympathetic Lucy Acton in these questions.
"And then she says, frowning as though she'd up with a knife off the tray and run it into me, 'What have you got there?' 'Your dinner, your ledyship,' says I. 'Put it down upon the floor!' says she in a sort of shriek, as if she was trying to sing. 'Don't you see I'm in tatters? They've got me here who am a princess at home, and these are my rags and all I've got,' says she, spreading her dress with her hands as though she was goin' to skip. 'Beggars in rags feed on the floor: they feed so. Anywhere's good enough for them. I've seen 'em sitting on the edge of ditches eating. Put the food on the floor! That's how princesses in tatters dine.' I did as I was ordered, your honour, and came away."
"Go in presently and see if she's done, and ask if she'll have some fruit pie or cake, and report if the tray is still on the deck."
"Yes, sir," answered Paul, who was not sailor enough to say, "Ay, ay, sir," which should have been his speech.