“And do you use the clams to catch the fish?”
“Some of them.”
“I should like to open this clam. How shall I do it?”
I broke the shell upon a stone, and pulled forth the clam.
“Oh,” cried the governess, “the poor thing! And doesn’t it hurt it?”
“The scientists will tell you that it does not,” I said. “Never having been a clam, I do not know. But I know I cannot use them without breaking the shell.”
“And what do you do with the rest?” she asked.
“The rest?”
“Yes, the rest,—those you do not use to catch fish. Come, tell me. Don’t make me ask so many questions.”
“I like to hear you ask questions,” I said, whereupon she smiled again. And her eyes filled with light as they had before, and I knew that I were safer on the quicksand of the Hole than looking down into those eyes. But I went on.