“Aw—aw—aw!” Mademoiselle Duval shrieked. “You may take your mother if you like, Toni, but nothing on earth would induce me to go.”
Toni could have hugged her on the spot, but he began to urge her.
“Pray, Mademoiselle, don’t think of remaining behind. The snakes are perfectly harmless, I assure you. Most of them are the little green garter snakes that are as harmless as the garter you wear around your leg.”
This speech caused Mademoiselle Duval to blush, and she said sternly:
“Toni, your language and allusion are most improper. At all events, I am resolved not to go to the Golden Lion this afternoon.”
“It will annoy the sergeant very much if you don’t go, and if he knows that it is on account of a few little garter snakes he will laugh at you for the rest of your life, particularly as it is now September and they are not very active.”
“My brother may laugh at me as much as he likes,” replied Mademoiselle Duval, privately resolving not to give the sergeant the chance. “I simply shall not go. Perhaps I may make some excuse to keep my brother and Denise from urging me, but I shall not go—of that you may be sure—and I think you are a most undutiful son to take your mother to any such place. As for my brother and Denise, they go about as if there were no such things as snakes in the world.”