I know. [ she plays just one of her cards with a sly half-grin. ] You keep rum in it, don't you? [ she also points to the wooden leg. ] But you must have emptied it already. Or else it came empty. Because otherwise, why would you be here -- knocking on my door for bottles of the stuff?

[ oh, the pearl. the pearl which she's only seen in jack's dreams and in ill-fated malnosso experiments. but she tries not to leap up and pounce upon the pearl's mentioning. not yet. ]