Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/147

 Inside were a quantity of fine glittering pellets like minute hail-stones.

Just then a mosquito lit on Thekla's arm. September laid her finger on her lip, and quick as lightning dashed a pinch of the "Specific" over him. The mosquito fluttered a second, dropped, and lay dead on the ground.

"You see!" said Mrs. September.

Then she rose up, and went into the house, telling the children to sit still and finish the grapes. They heard her moving softly to and fro: after a while she came again, and showed them a handful of spider-web legs and gauzy wings.

"There they are," she said. "Not one of them has escaped. You will sleep soundly to-night, little ones; and I shall give Master August a piece of my mind next time we meet, for playing such naughty tricks.

"And now for my story. By the way, have either of you ever seen the sea?"

"No," replied Thekla. "But the Grandfather did once; and Fritz is there now."