“What Pierre calls a lamprey. It is the very lowest of vertebrates. It has only a cartilaginous skeleton.”
“Must be an awful learned beast,” said Ned.
“It holds on to the side of the salmon, Rosy.”
“Just like a fellow outside of an omnibus,” said Dick.
“What a queer thing!” and Rose got up to look at it. “I wonder if the salmon likes it. A parasite!”
“Which proves,” laughed Anne, “that even a parasite is capable of attachment. The obligation is all on one side.”
“Literally,” said Lyndsay.
“Archie, you are worse than Mr. B.,” said Anne. “If you say anything clever, he begins to dissect it for the benefit of all concerned. The application of anatomy to humor is one of the lowest of social pursuits. I loathe that man.”
“You don’t really loathe any one, aunty.”
“If you do not,” said Margaret, “it is a pity to say that sort of thing.”