"Oh, how good of you, ma'am!" said the cray-fish. "You could not possibly do me a greater kindness. For I promise you I shall eat them. I eat as much chalk as I can get hold of against the time when I change my things, for that puts starch into the new shirt. But then, also, you must really promise me, ma'am, to look at my young ones. They are so sweet that, goodness knows, I should like to eat them...."
At that moment, a large carp appeared in the water, with a sad, weary face:
"You do eat them," he said.
"Oh!" yelled Goody, and went backwards into her hole and showed herself no more.
But Mrs. Reed-Warbler fainted on her five eggs and the carp swam on with his sad, weary face.
CHAPTER IV
The Water-Spider
Little Mrs. Reed-Warbler was not feeling very well.