"My apron, sir, is not to be appropriated for any such purpose. You
seem to covet it for everything."

"Indeed, ma petite, I think it very unbecoming and very ugly, and
never could see any good reason why you, and mamma, and Mathilde
should wear such frightful things."

"It is to keep our gowns clean, Louis, when we are milking, and
scrubbing, and doing all sorts of household duties," said Catharine.

"Well, ma belle, you have neither cows to milk nor house to clean,"
replied the annoying boy; "so there can be little want of the apron. I
could turn it to fifty useful purposes."

"Pooh, nonsense," said Hector impatiently; "let the child alone, and
do not tease her about her apron."

"Well, then, there is another good thing I did not think of
before--water mussels. I have heard my father and old Jacob the
lumberer say that, roasted in their shells in the ashes, with a
seasoning of salt and pepper, they are good eating when nothing better
is to be got."

"No doubt, if the seasoning can be procured," said Hector; "but, alas
for the salt and the pepper!"

"Well, we can eat them with the best of all sauces--hunger. And then,
no doubt, there are crayfish in the gravel under the stones; but we
must not mind a pinch to our fingers in taking them."