I was just telling you that there could be no such creatures ; and , behold ! here is one come to confound my conceit and show me that Nature can do , and has done , beyond all that man 's poor fancy can imagine . So , let us thank the Maker , and Inspirer , and Lord of Nature for all His wonderful and glorious works , and try and find out something about this one ; '' -- I think that , if the professor had said that , little Ellie would have believed him more firmly , and respected him more deeply , and loved him better , than ever she had done before . But he was of a different opinion . He hesitated a moment . He longed to keep Tom , and yet he half wished he never had caught him ; and at last he quite longed to get rid of him . So he turned away and poked Tom with his finger , for want of anything better to do ; and said carelessly , `` My dear little maid , you must have dreamt of water-babies last night , your head is so full of them . '' Now Tom had been in the most horrible and unspeakable fright all the while ; and had kept as quiet as he could , though he was called a Holothurian and a Cephalopod ; for it was fixed in his little head that if a man with clothes on caught him , he might put clothes on him too , and make a dirty black chimney-sweep of him again . But , when the professor poked him , it was more than he could bear ; and , between fright and rage , he turned to bay as valiantly as a mouse in a corner , and bit the professor 's finger till it bled . `` Oh ! ah ! yah ! '' cried he ; and glad of an excuse to be rid of Tom , dropped him on to the seaweed , and thence he dived into the water and was gone in a moment . `` But it was a water-baby , and I heard it speak ! '' cried Ellie . `` Ah , it is gone ! '' And she jumped down off the rock , to try and catch Tom before he slipped into the sea . Too late ! and what was worse , as she sprang down , she slipped , and fell some six feet , with her head on a sharp rock , and lay quite still . The professor picked her up , and tried to waken her , and called to her , and cried over her , for he loved her very much : but she would not waken at all .
So he took her up in his arms and carried her to her governess , and they all went home ; and little Ellie was put XXXXX bed , and lay there quite still ; only now and then she woke up and called out about the water-baby : but no one knew what she meant , and the professor did not tell , for he was ashamed to tell .
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