She imagined that the demented boy had wandered away from
his friends or keepers; so she tried to find out whence he had come,
in order that she might take measures to return him; but all her
references to neighbouring towns and villages, and all her inquiries
in the same line, went for nothing- the boy's face, and his answers,
too, showed that the things she was talking of were not familiar to
him. He spoke earnestly and simply about court matters; and broke
down, more than once, when speaking of the late king 'his father'; but
whenever the conversation changed to baser topics, he lost interest
and became silent.
The woman was mightily puzzled; but she did not give up. As she
proceeded with her cooking, she set herself to contriving devices to
surprise the boy into betraying his real secret. She talked about
cattle- he showed no concern; then about sheep- the same result- so
her guess that he had been a shepherd boy was an error; she talked
about mills; and about weavers, tinkers, smiths, trades and
tradesmen of all sorts; and about Bedlam, and jails, and charitable
retreats; but no matter, she was baffled at all points. Not
altogether, either; for she argued that she had narrowed the thing
down to domestic service. Yes, she was sure she was on the right track
now- he must have been a house-servant. So she led up to that. But the
result was discouraging. The subject of sweeping appeared to weary
him; fire-building failed to stir him; scrubbing and scouring awoke no
enthusiasm.
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