And wish they had not mocked his modest claim.
But listen—will you?—to this score of lads and lasses, Bessie’s companions (freed from school, for it is Saturday), who, laden with wild flowers and mosses and ferns, have meanwhile established themselves on the steps, and are chattering like a flock of blackbirds:
“Oh, we’ve had lots of fun, and I’m awfully tired. Will you believe it? I ran over a snake! Dear me, how scared I was!” (A girl, of course.)
“Sho! you needn’t have been afraid of such a harmless little snake as that; I’d just as soon take it up in my hand as not!” (A boy, of course.)
“Why didn’t you, then? Ha, ha! I’d like to have seen you.”
“See, Marie, what a pretty toad-stool I found, all scarlet inside; and Fred, he’s got a lot of snail-shells in his pocket.”
“If I’d only had a gun along I could have popped over two or three red squirrels.”
“Oh—h—h! it would be cruel to kill the dear, sweet, cunning little creatures.”
“Don’t be alarmed, puss; he couldn’t fire off a gun to save his life.”