hen Oscar used to hope that, some day, Theeda would grow up to be as
tall, or nearly as tall, as himself, and then come out of the water,
and live with him in the cottage. But that did not seem very likely to
happen either. And perhaps, after all, they were as near together as
many people who live in the same house, and are separated by neither
water nor crystal. Only, when Theeda brought out her oyster-shell
dinner-table, and set it under the bower of green ulva leaves, and
placed upon it her little cockle-shell dishes of fresh sea vegetables
(which was all she ate), Oscar's very heart ached to be sitting at the
opposite side of the table and dining with her. Water then seemed to
him a much more agreeable element to pass one's time in than air. But,
although wishing can do a great deal, it could not quite make a merman
of Oscar. Theeda ate her dinners by herself except for the tit-bits
that she gave to the prawns and snails, and the scraps that the fishes
stole when they thought she was not looking.

'Some day, Theeda, perhaps....!' Oscar used to say, without ever
finishing the sentence.

Theeda understood very well what he meant, and used to look as if she
meant it also. And Oscar's father, who was as powerful as he was kind,
would no doubt be able to make them happy in the way they wanted, if
he saw that it was best for them. But the hermit crab had a very ugly
and malicious look, as if he had a mind to prevent anybody from being
happy if he could.

CHAPTER V.

A STRANGER.

One morning, while Oscar was looking into the vase, and admiring the
bright silver beads that were forming all over the leaves of seaweed,
and on the lichen-covered surface of the rocks; and while Theeda was
busy feeding the fishes, who seemed to get hungrier the more they ate;
and just when Oscar was about to remark that the hermit-crab was not
in his usual hole, nor anywhere else that he could see--at that moment
a dark shadow suddenly fell across the vase, shutting it off from the
sunlight, scaring away the fishes, and making Theeda look up with a
start, and then quickly take refuge in her shell, as from something
she feared.

Oscar also looked up, and saw somebody standing before the window.

It was a boy; but a very odd boy, Oscar thought. He was not any bigger
than Oscar, but he seemed to be a good deal older. He had a broad
flat face, with a sharp little nose in the middle of it, a wide thin
mouth, and pale eyes which stuck