Azalea bent down and picked it up.
Her aunt was already stepping into the carriage and Azalea, putting the feather into Ah Yok’s hand, tried wildly to remember the Cantonese for ‘Nobleman’.
She could not remember it, so instead she whispered,
“Give to English Mandarin.”
Ah Yok’s hand closed over the feather and he nodded without speaking.
Azalea’s voice had been very low but as she seated herself in the carriage beside her aunt, Lady Osmund said,
“What did you say to that servant?”
The carriage door was shut and they were proceeding down the drive.
“I – I said – good-bye,” Azalea answered hesitatingly.
“In Chinese?” her aunt asked.
She was carrying a fan in her hand and she slapped Azalea with it on the side of her face.
“You have no right to speak to the servants in any languag
