A very tremendous lady she was ; and when the children saw her they all stood in a row , very upright indeed , and smoothed down their bathing dresses , and put their hands behind them , just as if they were going to be examined by the inspector . And she had on a black bonnet , and a black shawl , and no crinoline at all ; and a pair of large green spectacles , and a great hooked nose , hooked so much that the bridge of it stood quite up above her eyebrows ; and under her arm she carried a great birch-rod . Indeed , she was so ugly that Tom was tempted to make faces at her : but did not ; for he did not admire the look of the birch-rod under her arm . And she looked at the children one by one , and seemed very much pleased with them , though she never asked them one question about how they were behaving ; and then began giving them all sorts of nice sea-things -- sea-cakes , sea-apples , sea-oranges , sea-bullseyes , sea-toffee ; and to the very best of all she gave sea-ices , made out of sea-cows ' cream , which never melt under water . And , if you do n't quite believe me , then just think -- What is more cheap and plentiful than sea-rock ? Then why should there not be sea-toffee as well ? And every one can find sea-lemons -LRB- ready quartered too -RRB- if they will look for them at low tide ; and sea - grapes too sometimes , hanging in bunches ; and , if you will go to Nice , you will find the fish-market full of sea-fruit , which they call `` frutta di mare : '' though I suppose they call them `` fruits de mer '' now , out of compliment to that most successful , and therefore most immaculate , potentate who is seemingly desirous of inheriting the blessing pronounced on those who remove their neighbours ' land - mark . And , perhaps , that is the very reason why the place is called Nice , because there are so many nice things in the sea there : at least , if it is not , it ought to be . Now little Tom watched all these sweet things given away , till his mouth watered , and his eyes grew as round as an owl 's . For he hoped that his turn would come at last ; and so it did . For the lady called him up , and held out her fingers with something in them , and popped it into his mouth ; and , lo and behold , it was a nasty cold hard pebble . `` You are a very cruel woman , '' said he , and began to whimper . `` And you are a very cruel boy ; who puts pebbles into the sea - anemones ' mouths , to take them in , and make them fancy that they had caught a good dinner ! As you did to them , so I must do to you . '' `` Who told you that ? '' said Tom . `` You did yourself , this very minute . '' Tom had never opened his lips ; so he was very much taken aback indeed . `` Yes ; every one tells me exactly what they have done wrong ; and that without knowing it themselves . So there is no use trying to hide anything from me .
Now go , and be a good boy , and I will put no more pebbles in your mouth , XXXXX you put none in other creatures ' . ''
about at because behind if in than that though under