"You're very forgiving," I said. "It's more than I deserve after making you break a plate." "It's the least I can do," she retorted, "after jumping your hut like this." She filled up the pot, and, coming back, placed it carefully on the stump of one of the trees which I had cut down when I built the place. "This is the table," she said. "If you'll sit down on the grass and wait one minute, I'll bring the tea out." The suggestion seemed a sound one, so I accepted it without protest. Whoever my hostess might be, she was certainly not lacking in self-possession, and I felt sure that if she had wanted any help she would have asked for it. Selecting a comfortable place, I spread myself out on the grass, and Rufus, who had apparently been on a short tour of inspection, came up sideways and licked my boot. "Rufus," I said, "we have struck a remarkable adventure." He lay down and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "We have discovered a mermaid, a sea-dryad, an island goddess," I went on. "In fact, I'm not at all sure that we haven't found Astarte herself." He rolled slowly over on his back and pointed all four feet towards the sky. "I'm glad to see," said I, "that you have a sense of reverence." It was at this point that, heavily burdened with accessories, the goddess emerged from her retreat. "I'm afraid it's a poor sort of tea," she said, as I jumped up to help her unload. "Do you mind a mug and condensed milk? They're all I've got to offer you." "On a desert island," I said, "both a cup and a cow would be painfully out of place." "Still," she laughed, "I think if I were going to be here long I'd give them a trial. They might get acclimatized." "It's an interesting question," I said, "as to which of them would be broken first." Taking her various burdens from her, I began to set them out in a half-circle round the teapot. "If I'd known I was going to have a visitor," she said, "I'd have made some hot cakes. As it is, you'll have to be content with gingerbread and biscuits." Then she sat down opposite me, and began to pour out tea. I watched her with a most pleasant curiosity. I have been in a good many parts of the world, and met some distinctly quaint people, but this beautiful girl, with her perfect self-possession and astounding absence of convention, baffled me completely. Who on earth could she be, and what was she doing on the island--my island--or, to be strictly accurate, George's island? That she was well educated--what I believe is known in refined circles as "a lady"--was of course obvious, but this only made the situation more puzzling than ever. I simply gave it up, and, accepting the cup of tea which she handed across, waited calmly for any further enlightenment that Fate might vouchsafe. "You shall have your hut by six o'clock," she said, breaking a biscuit and offering half of it to Rufus. "I'll get my belongings on board directly after tea."