“It will make trouble for Mr. Keller, won’t it?” Janet wanted to know.
“I’m afraid it will—yes. He may lose his place with Mr. Narr, who is very quick-tempered and stern, I am told. Dear me! I don’t know what to do.”
“Couldn’t we go hunt again for the lost keys?” asked Teddy.
“It’s very kind of you to want to do that, my dear,” his mother said. “But it’s going to be dusk soon, and it would do little good to search now.”
“Then we’ll look to-morrow,” said Janet.
“Yes, you may do that,” agreed her mother. “Meanwhile I’ll get Daddy to see Mr. Keller.”
“And we must tell him what Mr. Narr said—about coming over after the keys,” said Janet. “We promised we’d tell him.”
“Yes, I’ll see that he is told,” promised her mother. “Poor Mr. Keller!” she murmured. “If he loses his place as Mr. Narr’s secretary, it will be hard at his time of life. I wish we could do something. Well, we must have Norah boil the crabs, at any rate,” she went on. “Daddy is so fond of crab salad.”
The crabs, if they had been “sleeping,” as Janet said, soon awakened when the green seaweed was taken off them, and they lashed about with their big, blue claws, seeking something to pinch. Failing to get hold of any fingers or toes of the Curlytops, the crabs pinched each other. But this did no harm, as each crab was encased in a hard shell.
However, Norah soon made the crabs into a salad, and the Curlytops looked at the empty shells, the hot water having turned them a beautiful red, like coral.