hand.
It seemed as if he were twisting it into a corkscrew. I shrieked--I
yelled--I tried to shake the varmint off--to dash him to atoms against
the side of the boat. It was of no use: his sharp claws dug into me in
fifty places; he bit like fury. The blood ran down my fingers, my voice
grew weaker, but it broke up that flirtation. It was a cruel price, but
I paid it cheerfully. While I retain my moral sense, no married woman
shall degrade her sex by a flirtation in my presence. Never, never!

Yes, my screams broke up that well-arranged plan to delude Mr. Burke
from my side, and it broke up the crabbing party too.

Dempster woke up and hauled in the lines. We had thirty crabs
floundering in the hold, all fighting like imps of darkness.

"We'll have them for dinner," says Dempster, ferociously, "they won't be
so lively half an hour from now."

He was right, it took us just fifteen minutes to sail back to that white
house with the long stoop. Fifteen minutes after that, every crab was in
water so hot that they gave up clawing and began to turn furiously red.

Half an hour after we sat around a long table out under the trees, with
a great platter of those scrawny creatures lying with their red shells
uppermost, a good deal easier to catch than they had been, I can tell
you.

Mr. Burke was busy as could be, telling me how to put in my knife under
the red shell, so as to lay the sweet white flesh open.

I say nothing, but it seemed to me there was one jealous female around
those premises, and that female certainly was not me.

The meat of those creatures is just delicious--what there is of it.

Take it altogether, sisters, it seems to me that catching and eating
crabs is an amusement which promises better than bathing.

If I am not very much mistaken, Mr. Burke held my hand longer than was
quite necessary when he said good-night after we reached the hotel. I
saw E. E. looking at us sideways, and I let it rest--rest lovingly in
his clasp long enough to wring her heart. What right has she to have any
feeling about it, I should like to know? Isn't she married?

CHAPTER XCIV.

EXTRA POLITENESS.

Dear sisters:--Life is a pleasant thing to have when its chariot-wheels
revolve in smooth places. I went to bed last night angry with Cousin E.
E. Ever since Mr. Burke was introduced into our party she has exhibited
a desire for gentlemen's attention which I think entirely unbecoming a
married lady. I do not wish