"No, ma'am," replied Felix, trying to look more sober and gentlemanly: "what should I know about her kitten?—How do you do, Ruth?—Come along to the house, Johnny, and help me skin these things in time to have them cooked for dinner."
Johnny very willingly followed Felix, taking out and opening his jack-knife as he went. The girls brought up the rear, keeping out of the sweep of Felix's eel; for he was still swinging his arm vigorously, although with apparent carelessness. The carelessness was a pretence, however; for once, when Julia came a little nearer, the tail of the eel swung against her ankle, much to her horror.
"I tell you! but this eel is a slippery fellow! and if he didn't hold on to the hook! I had to pull it out of his mouth by main force, holding him down with my foot. Jack showed me how."
The girls shuddered; but Johnny said, "That's the reason I don't like to catch eels: it is almost impossible to get the hook out of their mouths any other way. I've caught them in the river, down by my grandfather's."
Soon after the fish were dressed, the dinner-bell rang. Mrs. Le Bras left the table after the first course of the dessert; but the children sat for some time over the nuts and candy, chatting merrily. After dinner they went out on the veranda, where the awning had been drawn to keep out the rays of the sun. There was a cool breeze from the water; and the waves curled merrily upon the beach, with a sound not unlike laughter, as they dashed here and there against the white bowlders.
Pierre, who had been writing some law-papers for Mr. Le Bras, in his room, all the morning, was reclining in the hammock when they came out. He offered to give up the hammock, but the children preferred the great comfortable piazza-chairs. Pierre had a book in his hand, but he did not appear to be reading very attentively.
"Shall we disturb your reading, Pierre?" asked Johnny.
"Oh, no! I am not reading: I am only playing at reading. In fact, I am too tired to read," replied Pierre, closing his book: "I think I had rather hear you children talk."
"I miss my laboratory very much," remarked Johnny: "I think I will never go away from home again without bringing my 'Play-Book of Science,' and some materials for making experiments. If I had some of my apparatus and chemicals here, I could amuse and interest the girls very much for a while this afternoon."
"Oh, I wish you had!" said Julia. "I love to see experiments dearly: I've been to some lectures where they had them, with my cousin Ernest, who is at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy."