"I'm _not_ a
valet. I'm Lady Turnour's maid."
"She's in luck to get you."
"I'm engaged to wait upon _her_."
"You are stiff! You do the governor's tie."
"Sir Samuel's very kind to me."
"Well, I'll be kind, too. I'd like nothing better. I'll be a lot kinder
than he'd dare to be. I say, I've got a present for you--something
rippin', that you'll like. You can wear it at the ball to-night, but
you'd better not tell anyone who gave it to you--what? You shall have
it for tyin' my necktie. Now, don't you call that 'kind'?"
I stopped folding the blouse, and increased my height by at least an
inch. "No," I said, "I call it impertinent, and I shall be obliged if
you will leave Lady Turnour's room. That's the only thing you can do for
me."
"By Jove!" said Bertie. "What theatre were you at before you took to
lady's maidin'?"
To this I deigned no answer.
"Anyhow, you're a rippin' little actress."
Silence.
"And a pretty girl. As pretty as they make 'em."
I invented a new kind of sigh, a cross between a snarl and a moan.
"Tell me, what's the mystery? There is a mystery about you, you know.
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