He had seen them often . But he did not think much of them . They were meddlesome little creatures , that went about helping fish and shells which got into scrapes . Well , for his part , he should be ashamed to be helped by little soft creatures that had not even a shell on their backs . He had lived quite long enough in the world to take care of himself . He was a conceited fellow , the old lobster , and not very civil to Tom ; and you will hear how he had to alter his mind before he was done , as conceited people generally have . But he was so funny , and Tom so lonely , that he could not quarrel with him ; and they used to sit in holes in the rocks , and chat for hours . And about this time there happened to Tom a very strange and important adventure -- so important , indeed , that he was very near never finding the water-babies at all ; and I am sure you would have been sorry for that . I hope that you have not forgotten the little white lady all this while . At least , here she comes , looking like a clean white good little darling , as she always was , and always will be . For it befell in the pleasant short December days , when the wind always blows from the south-west , till Old Father Christmas comes and spreads the great white table-cloth , ready for little boys and girls to give the birds their Christmas dinner of crumbs -- it befell -LRB- to go on -RRB- in the pleasant December days , that Sir John was so busy hunting that nobody at home could get a word out of him . Four days a week he hunted , and very good sport he had ; and the other two he went to the bench and the board of guardians , and very good justice he did ; and , when he got home in time , he dined at five ; for he hated this absurd new fashion of dining at eight in the hunting season , which forces a man to make interest with the footman for cold beef and beer as soon as he comes in , and so spoil his appetite , and then sleep in an arm-chair in his bedroom , all stiff and tired , for two or three hours before he can get his dinner like a gentleman . And do you be like Sir John , my dear little man , when you are your own master ; and , if you want either to read hard or ride hard , stick to the good old Cambridge hours of breakfast at eight and dinner at five ; by which you may get two days ' work out of one . But , of course , if you find a fox at three in the afternoon and run him till dark , and leave off twenty miles from home , why you must wait for your dinner till you can get it , as better men than you have done . Only see that , if you go hungry , your horse does not ; but give him his warm gruel and beer , and take him gently home , remembering that good horses do n't grow on the hedge like blackberries . It befell -LRB- to go on a second time -RRB- that Sir John , hunting all day , and dining at five , fell asleep every evening , and snored so terribly that all the windows in Harthover shook , and the soot fell down the chimneys . Whereon My Lady , being no more able to get conversation out of him than a song out of a dead nightingale , determined to go off and leave him , and the doctor , and Captain Swinger the agent , to snore in concert every evening to their hearts ' content . So she started for the seaside with all the children , in order to put herself and them into condition by mild applications of iodine . She might as well have stayed at home and used Parry 's liquid horse-blister , for there was plenty of it in the stables ; and then she would have saved her money , and saved the chance , also , of making all the children ill instead of well -LRB- as hundreds are made -RRB- , by taking them to some nasty smelling undrained lodging , and then wondering how they caught scarlatina and diphtheria : but people wo n't be wise enough to understand that till they are dead of bad smells , and then it will be too late ; besides you see , Sir John did certainly snore very loud . But where she went to nobody must know , for fear young ladies should begin to fancy that there are water-babies there !
and so hunt and howk after them -LRB- besides raising the price of lodgings -RRB- , and keep them XXXXX aquariums , as the ladies at Pompeii -LRB- as you may see by the paintings -RRB- used to keep Cupids in cages .
At about as by if in like on than till