"But just look at the head, eyes and mouth of the fiend!" he persisted.
Hester, forcing herself a little, did regard the animal for two or three minutes. Then a slight shudder passed through her, and she turned away her eyes.
"I see you've caught the look of him!" said Vavasor. "Is he not a horror?"
"He is. But that was not what made me turn away: I found if I looked a moment longer I should hate him in spite of myself."
"And why shouldn't you hate him? You would be doing the wretch no wrong. Even if he knew it, it would be only what he deserved."
"That you cannot tell except you knew all about his nature, and every point of his history from the beginning of the creation till now. I dare not judge even a dog-fish. And whatever his deserts, I don't choose to hate him, because I don't choose to hate."
She turned away, and Vavasor saw she wanted no more of the dog-fish.
"Oh!" cried Saffy, with a face of terror, "look, look, mamma! It's staring at me!"
The child hid her face in her mother's gown, yet turned immediately to look again.
Mr. Raymount looked also, following her gaze, and was fascinated by the sight that met his eyes. Through the glass, high above his head, and not far from the surface, he saw a huge thornback, bending toward them and seeming to look down on them, as it flew slowly through the water—the action of the two sides of its body fringed with fins, and its consequent motion, were much more like the act of flying than that of swimming. Behind him floated his long tail, making him yet more resemble the hideously imagined kite which he at once suggested. But the terrible thing about him was the death's-head look of the upper part of him. His white belly was of course toward them, and his eyes were on the other side, but there were nostrils that looked exactly like the empty sockets of eyes, and below them was a hideous mouth. These made the face that seemed to Saffy to be hovering over and watching them.