William had been up with the dawn and on his morning constitutional when the tremor hit. Throwing himself to the ground had been a rather embarrassing instinct, and now he had dust stains on his trousers that he was ineffectually brushing at - so that he answered her absently before she'd properly registered.
"Earth tremor, pretty mild. They get them this way - the miners talked 'bout huge one, back in '57, shifted some parts ten yards down the--"
He looked up and promptly straightened up. When he spoke again, his accent was less pronounced, his bearing stiff.
"My apologies, madam. I'm certain there is no great cause for alarm."