'I'm not afraid; but I don't like it.'
'Like Kate's thunder-storm,' laughed Angela; 'not afraid, but she doesn't like it.'
Stella stood her ground: 'I don't like keeping the poor thing in misery.'
'Nay!' said Angela. 'Why don't you send that cruel boy to restore it to its native element?'
'That would be nonsense,' steadily said Stella; 'but I think it would be kinder to have it killed at once, than to jolt it all the way up there.'
'Now, Charlie, it is absurd to yield to that child's tender-heartedness. She is a perfect Brahmin, and can't believe that those cold-blooded fishy things don't feel.'
'I believe the sentiment is general,' said Lady Caergwent, eagerly but nervously: 'though I had not the resolution of Princess Fair-Star,' she added, aside to Cherry; who rejoined, 'Not being sure whether it might not be the native custom to consume raw lobsters. Oh! here come Wilmet and Eddy; so let us pack. Lady Caergwent, do you prefer dignity or landscape? for that perch by my brother is the best for the latter.'
'Landskip, to be sure. You delightful person!' cried her Ladyship, springing to the driving-seat.
'May I invite you, not to our skip, but our springs, Cherry?' asked the Major.
'No, thank you,' said Cherry, who had seen a pair of wistful eyes lose one spark at the Countess's ascent, and another at this invitation. 'My springs rival yours; and Gertrude and I mean to be snug behind Master Ratton.'