Answe, Elay leaned over. Elay was familiar with that excitement which her mistress wore about her person like a silk kerchief -now on her head to keep her hair in place, now like a scarf round her neck. She must return to the deck-house, Elay thought, if she must fetch her mistress’s handbag. It occurred to Elay that, judging from the care her mistress was taking about her appearance, it might well be that they were not on board a one-masted Tingloy batel with a cargo of lumber, copra, pigs, and chickens, but were still at home in the dress-shop that they were leaving behind in the lumber town of Sumagui.
Explanation:
